APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 495 



among the thousands of seals that were watched by me on the hanling-grounds, no 

 attempts at service were ever noted. Had the virgin cows hauled-out with the 

 bachelor seals, attempts at service by the older bulls would have been so irequent 

 that they could not have escaped observation; but not only did I never see any- 

 thing of this kind myself, but no such instance was ever reported to me. 



It seems, then, probable that at least the greater portion of the virgin cows are 

 first served at sea. Bryant speaks* of its being a common thing for young three- 

 and four-year-old males to meet cows in the water as they came i'rom the rook- 

 140 eries, and there perform the act of coition ; and though these cows were prob- 

 ably ones that had young ones on the rookeries, many hunters and captains of 

 sealing-sclioouers with whom 1 conversed at Victoria and elsewhere assured me that 

 they had often seen seals eoi)nlating in the water, and had shot both male and female 

 while they were in the act. The female, in the majority of these cases, was one 

 that had not yet had a pup, though in some instances they were barren cows, and a 

 few were cows with milk in their breasts. 



FroportioH of Males to Females on Rookeries. 



Whenever harems were well defined, and could be readily separated from adjoin- 

 ing ones, the number of female seals was counted. It was found that tlioiigh there 

 were a few cases in which an old bull woukl have but two or three cows alout him, 

 there were many other bulls which had fifty or more. One in particular, shown me 

 by Mr. Brown, had about him more than eighty females. This was Mr. Brown's 

 estimate. The average number of females in each harem, according to my count, 

 was about thirty, my figures giving a little over that number. My attention was 

 frequently drawn by the United States Agents to what they called the great number 

 of mature bulls that were without harems. Comparing mentally the number of such 

 bulls with those seen on the rookeries last year, I decided, while on the ground, that 

 there were not more than there were in 1891, though an additional number of mature 

 males must have come upon the breeding-grounds. A comparison of phoiographs 

 taken during the two seasons show no change in the number of bulls without harems. 

 During neither season were there old bulls to be seen in anything like the numbers 

 mentioned by Elliott and others. 



Thus, Mr. S. N. Bnyuitsky says: "Thousands of old bulls, which have become 

 useless for the jiurposes of propagation and are an incumbrance to the rookeries, 

 might be killed for their blubber." t 



Captain Bryant writes: " Uuriug the latter portion of the landing time there is a 

 large excess of old males that cannot find room on the breeding-places; these pass up 

 with the younger seals, and congregate along the upper edge of the rookery, and 

 watch for a chance to charge down and fill any vacancies that may occur. "{ And, 

 again: "The number of full-grown males at this date (10th August) may be consid- 

 ered as three times greater than the number required, or equal to one full-grown 

 male to every three or four females." ^ 



Elliott sa.vs, writing of the years 1872-74: "At the rear of all these rookeries there 

 is invariably a large number of able-bodied males which have come late, but wait 



patiently, yet in vain, for families All the surplus able-bodied males that 



have not been successful in efiecting a landing on the rookeries cannot at any time 

 during the season be seen here on this rear line. Only a portion of their number are 

 in sight; the others are either loaiiug at sea adjacent, or are hauled-out in morose 

 squads between the rookeries on the beaches." || 



And, again: "300 or 400 old bulls were killed to supply skins to furnish the natives 

 with canoes.'' Not that number could have been secured in 1892 had the hulls with- 

 out harems been driven from every rookery on both islands. 



The greatest number of bulls in proportion to the cows on the rookeries were to 

 be found at North-east Point. I visited the rookeries there in company with Mr. 

 Brown on the 2nd July. He drew my attention to what he called the excessive 

 number of old bulls without harems, and there certainly appeared to be a great 

 many, but knowing that their great size render them conspicuous, I carefully counted 

 all that were to be seen iu the vicinity of the rookeries at this place. The bulls near 

 each rookery were counted three limes, and the totals of the three counts were 94, 

 89, and 91 respectively. There may have been a few hidden behind rocks, l)ut cer- 

 tainly not more than a dozen iu all. Placing the total number at 100, and allowing 



*Alleu, " Monograph of North American Pinnipeds," pp. 386, 390, 405, and 406; "On 

 Eared Seals," p]). 96 and 100. See also Veniamiuov as to virgin cows remaining 

 away from islands. 



t H. R., 50th Congress, 2nd Session, Report No. 3883, p. 3. 



t Allen, "Monograph of North American Pinnipeds," p. 384. 



^ Ibid., p. 390. 



II Census Report, pp. 36, 37. 



