ORAL ARGUMENT OP FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ. 327 



I saw three cows come ashore. One of these was still gravid. Each of the others 

 on coming out, turned her head about from side to side uttering at short intervals a 

 cry used by most female seals as they come ashore. In each case several pups went 

 towards the cow, in one instance five were about her at one time. These were smelt 

 or nosed over and shoved away, or struck gently with a Hipper, and one by one they 

 dropped off. The cow then moved slowly back towards the rear of the rookery. 

 She was " attached " by nearly every pup she passed close to. These she put away 

 from her, calling out from time to time as if for her own young one. Amongst the 

 lirst pups that had approached her was one that persistently followed her, attempt- 

 ing to suck every time she stopped, several times securing the teat, while the cow 

 nosed over other pups. It was evident. 



Perhaps it would not have been as evident to the other and more 

 experienced men as to Mr. Macoiin ; but it was evident to him. 



that the mother seal was searching for her own young one, and that she thought 

 that the pup following her was not it, as, often while the young one was close beside 

 her, the cow would stop at a pod of pups and examine and smell every one of them. 

 Whenever this pup attempted to suck and was seen, or perhaps felt, by the mother 

 seal, it was pushed away and she moved on, followed as before by the pup. She 

 reached at last a small harem near the back of the rookery, where she lay down on 

 her side and was soon asleep. 



Still followed, you will observe, by this persistent pup! Tenacem 

 propositi he certainly was; and, whether his claim was founded on good 

 title as far as lineage is concerned, is a matter of inference; I think the 

 inference is tolerably plain. 



The pup immediately began to suck, stopping whenever the cow awakened, which 

 happened at very short intervals, beginning again as soon as the cow slept. It was 

 at last satisfied, and lay down at some distance away and went to sleep. 



Now, I read from a little further down. 



On the ISth July, on North rookery, St. George Island, a cow was seen by me to 

 come from the water, and after calling out as if for her young one, she was approached 

 by several pups, as had been noted frequently before; and, as is usual when cows 

 come from the water, these pups attempted to suck, but were driven away. One 

 persistently followed her; the cow smelt it over many times, as if uncertain whether 

 it was her "own or not, but did not stop, and pushed the pup from her. Though the 

 pup continued following her, the cow did not cease crying out at intervals in the 

 manner peculiar to them when calling for their young ones. Other pups came to 

 her, which she smelt in the usual way, but finally she lay down and allowed the pup 

 that had been following her from tlie first to nurse. If this pup were her own, it 

 would seem that the female was for a long time uncertain whether it was so or not. 



These scientivSts make very nice distinction on these subjects which, 

 perhaps, our plainer men do not make as to the mental operations of 

 the cow in recognising her pup : 



For while the pup kept up with her most of the time, and was often beside her, 

 she continued to call out as if dissatisfied, and did not cease smelling all the pups 

 that came to her. It is noteworthy that she did not go to the back of the rookery- 

 ground, but, after reaching the middle of it moved aliout to the right and left for 

 more than 15 minutes, the pup following her, and lay down at last on a rock that 

 she had passed several times. Were the pup her own, there is no apparent reason 

 why she should not have lain down when first joined by it. 



Probably she had reasons of her own; I am utterly unable to say to 

 the Court what the reasons were. 



Had the pup not followed her and finally been allowed to nurse, her actions were 

 such that any one must have concluded that, for more than 15 minutes, she had been 

 searching for her pup without finding it. 



But as the pup did follow her and did finally nurse, this hypothesis 

 does not come into play. 



In both cases referred to above, the pups persisted in following the cows, though 

 repulsed by them, and, while in one instance the cow laid down and went to sleep, 

 the pup then helping itself; in the other, the cow, after a long delay, and in evident 

 uncertainty as to whether the pup were her own or not, voluntarily suckled it. 



