186 COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



assume a new position, tliongli in his former writings he is 

 found to be fully committed to the statement that the female 

 seals do not feed during the season in which they resort to 

 the breeding-islands. 



THE ABSTINENCE FROM FOOD OF PINNIPEDS AT THE 

 BREEDING SEASON IS GENERALLY RECOGNIZED. 



The habit of prolonged abstinence at 'the breeding season 

 is well known to be noruml among the Pinnipeflia as a whole ; 

 and notwithstanding the number of years over which the 

 habits of seals have been observed, there is no record of 

 food being found in the stomachs of females when killed 

 upon the islands, or any facts that justify the statement 

 that nursing females leave the islands on feeding excursions. 



PROFESSOR ALLEN ON THIS SUBJECT. 



Writing particularly of the eared-seals (or fur-seals and 

 sea-lions), Professor Allen says: 



Unll. Mu 8. One of the most striking features in their history is tliat at this period 



Coiup. Zool., vol. [that of reproduction], hoih sexes pass weeks, and even months, 



n, o. ,p. 7. 215 without food, or without often visiting the water. Arriving at 



the breeding-grounds exceedingly fat and unwieldly, they seem 



to he sustained by the fat of their bodies, they finally leave at the 



end of the breeding season greatly emaciated. 



A similar fact has been long known in respect to the walrus, whose 

 period of fasting, however, seems to he shorter than that of the eared- 

 seals. 



In his Monograph of 1880, Professor Allen writes on the 

 same subject: 



"Monograph The males, during the breeding season, remain wholly on land, and 

 of North Anieri- they will snffer death rather than leave their chosen spot. They thus 

 '^'^227''°"'^^'^^' ^"^tain, for a period of several weeks, an uninterrupted fast. They 

 ^" arrive at the breeding stations fat and vigorous, and leave them weak 



and emaciated, having been nourished through their long period of 

 fasting wholly by the fat of their own bodies. The females remain 

 uninterruptedly on land for a much shorter period, but for a consid- 

 erable time after their arrival do not leave the harems. 



CAPTAIN BRYANT. 



Referring particularly to the ]!Sorth Pacific fur-seal, Cap- 

 tain Bryant, who is responsible for that part of Professor 

 Allen's work on the eared-seals which treats of the habits 

 of this animal, notes the result of his careful investigation 

 of the statement made by the natives, that the seals do not 

 eat while resorting to the islands. He refers particularly 

 to the males, but adds: 



Comp. Zool., vol. The same was true of the few nursing females killed for dissection, 

 ii, No. 1, pp. 101, 



102. He further draws particular attention to the absence of 



all excrement upon the rookery grounds. 



