22 



ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. C. M. P. 



Sir EiciiAUD Webster. — The causes that led to the destruction of pups on the 

 bieedinj; islands are, so for as they have been noted by me — 



(a.) The wandering away of the young seals from the vicinity of the breeding- 

 grounds, and subsequent failure to find female seals from whom they can obtain 

 milk. This seldom occurs where a harem is situated between a clifl' and the water, 

 or backed by rocky steeps, as at Lukannon rookery on St. Paul Island, and parts of 

 North rookery on St. George Island. Pups can most easily lose themselves when on 

 such rookeries as Polaviua, Reef, or Upper Zapadnie on St. Paul Island, and Zapad- 

 uie on St. George Island. At these places they frequently wander a short distiiuce 

 to the rear of the occupied rookery-ground, and are soon lost, especially if boulders 

 lie between them and the breeding-ground. A pup's confusion is naturally much 

 greater at such places as Sea Lion Point or at Reef rookery, where, on going but a 

 short distiince inland, cries of seals can be heard from both sides of the point. Two 

 or three pups so lost were seen l)y m'- every time I visited Reef rookery, and seldom 

 with strength enough to move more than a few yards, if at all. These pups of course 

 die, and are, with few if any exceptions, dragged away and eaten by foxes. While 

 scattered dead pups were always to be seen on the open ground between the rook- 

 eries on Reef Point, none that had been dead more than a few days were ever noted, 

 though partly-eaten carcasses were not infrequent, so that the number of carcasses 

 seen at any one time includes but a small part of the whole number that have died. 



During the months of July and August a great many females were watched as they 

 came from the water, and although in a few cases they were seen to go to the extreme 

 back of the occupied rookery-ground, none were seen to go beyond it. 



(b.) Many pujjs lose their lives when stampedes occur, and many others when bulls 

 dash among the breeding females and their young to prevent the escape of a female 

 from the harem. 



The scattered dead pups that are to be seen on all rookeries have been destroyed 

 in either of these ways. 



(c.) A few pups probably lose their lives in the surf, or by being dashed upon 

 rocks, but the number must, under ordinary circumstances, be very small. As 

 early as the 18th July, and on many occasions afterwards, pups were watched while 

 in the water close to the shore, and though they were often thrown with great force 

 against the rocks, no pup was ever seen to receive the slightest injury. These causes 

 of death to young seals were noted by me, but are obviously insufficient to account 

 for the great mortality among the pups on Polavinaaud Tolstoi rookeries. 



While standing beside the camera at Polaviua rookery on the 22nd July I counted 

 143 dead pups; they were of the same size as the living pups near them, and exhib- 

 ited no sign of having died of hunger, nor did it appear that they had been crushed 

 to death in a stampede, as those that could be seen were at or near the limit of the 

 rookery-ground. No estimate could be made of the number of dead pups that were 

 lying on this rookery, as the seals lay so closely together on its southern and eastern 

 slopes that but a small part of the breeding-ground was visible. Professor Everman 

 (a naturaliston United States Fish Connuission steamer "Albatross"), who was with 

 me at this time, and who counted 129 dead pups, thought, with me, that if so many 

 were to be seen at the outer edge of the rookery-ground, the whole number must be 

 very great, and about a month later (2flth August) I had ample proof that this was 

 the case. I revisited Polavina rookery on this date with a native, Neh-an Mandri- 

 gan. This man speaks and understands English very well, and was at this time on 

 his way to Northeast Point to take charge of the guard-house there. A great nuiny 

 dead pups were lying at the south end of the rookery, nearly or quite as many as 

 were to be seen on Tolstoi rookery. They were lying on a sandy slope between the 

 water and the rocky ledge that separates the lower from the higher parts of this 

 rookery-ground, and were rather more grouped together than at Tolstoi, from 10 to 

 100 lying quite close together, with spaces from 5 to 10 yards square between the 

 groups. There were individual dead pups scattered everywhere over this rookery 

 sm on all others, but on that part of it referred to above the number was very great, 

 and the ground on which they were lying was quite deserted bj'^ living seals. They 

 extended as iar as could be seen along the rookery, but as only the front sloping to 

 the south could be seen, the number beyond the point to the northward could not be 

 estimated. It was at the south end of this rookery that the British Commissioners 

 report having seen a few hundred dead pups in 1891. Photograplis taken the 5th 

 August show this ground with the breeding seals still upon it, but many dead pups 

 may also be seen. The native Neh-an Mandrigan was asked how he accounted for so 

 many dead pups; he replied that bethought they had been killed when the old bulls 

 were fighting, but a few minutes later said that he was mistaken, that their mothers 

 must have been killed at sea, and the pups have died for want of food. He at this 

 time told me that he had never seen so nuuiy dead pujis on any rookery before. He 

 had seen those on Tolstoi rookery in 1891, but had not visited that place in 1892. 



Dead pups were first noticed by mo on Tolstoi rookery the 19th August, though 

 photographs taken by Mr. Mayuard on the 8th August, while I was on St. George 



