188 COUNTER-CASE OP GREAT BRITAIN. 



217 OBSERVATIONS MADE BY THEM. 



British Com- The Oommissioners then detail such observations as they 

 pJrt,'p"a7a. als-'"'^'!'® themselvcs able to make, including the examination 

 235.' of the stomachs of 108 j^oung males (Pril)yloff Island), one 



old male, and two females (Behring Island). The old male 

 and the females last mentioned were driven up directly 

 from the rookery, but 200 yards distant, and at once killed, 

 but no trace of food was found in the stomachs. 



ABSENCE OF ALL EXCREMENT ON THE BREEDING-PLACES. 



The complete absence of excrement on the rookeries, 

 already referred to in a quotation from Oaptaiu Bryant, 

 ■was specially noted by the British Commissioners, who say : 



rbid., para. It is to the absence of such matter alone that the continuous herd- 

 243. ing together on one spot for some months of so many thousand animals 



is on sanitary grounds rendered possible. It became obvious that so 

 soon as the seals commence again to feed, it must be absolutely neces- 

 sary for them to abandon their crowded quarters on shore. The 

 evidence this aiiorded, that the females do not feed to any notable 

 extent till the young are practically weaned, or, at all events, until 

 very late in the suckling season, is perhaps more definite than that 

 given in any other way. 



They add: 



308^'^' ^^^^' It appears to us to be quite probable, however, that toward the 

 close of the season of suckling, the female seals may actually begin 

 to spend a considerable jjortion of their time at sea in search of food. 



ANALOGY OF THE HAIR-SEAL. 



In the case of the hair-seal, experienced sealers point 

 out that there is no excrement whatever on the ice resorted 

 to by hood-seals and floe-rats, both of which species abstain 

 altogether from feeding whilst on the ice; but that the ice 

 to which the harp-seal resorts is covered with dung, and 

 the harp-seal is known to feed throughout the season. 



IF FEMALES GO TO SEA FOR FOOD, THIS DOES NOT HAP- 

 PEN TILL THE AUTUMN. 



807^308 649'^*^' ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ noted that, while presenting the availa- 

 ble evidence on the subject, the British Commissioners did 

 not feel themselves to be warranted in making a perfectly 

 definite statement on it either in one sense or in tlie other. 

 They, however, state their belief that if the females feed 

 while suckling it cannot be till towards the close of the 

 breeding season, and probably not to any notable extent 

 till after the middle of September, at which date pelagic 

 sealing in Behring Sea becomes practically impossible, 

 because of boisterous weather. 



EVIDENCE COLLECTED BY BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



The British Commissioners endeavoured to obtain 



218 and compare as impartially as possible the state- 

 ments of aU those who had any familiarity with seal 



