APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 497 



that he knows fur seals feed to a limited extent upon crnstaceans and sqnid, and 

 also to eat tender algoid sjironts. Pups, he believes, live npon crustaceans and 



142 sqnid for the first five or six months they are at sea. Sqnid, as has been shown 

 in auotlier part of this IJejjort, are plentiful near the seal islands. 



When on St. Geori^e Island in 1892, Captain Webster told me tliat after he raided 

 Robbcn Reef in 1870 there were about (500 pnps left when the older seals had been 

 killed. When he sailed away from the islands " tliey were getting fat along the 

 shore. At every low tide they would go down to the beach and pick np pieces of 

 soft sea-weed, and possibly small fish, thougli this is doubtful." Mr. Redpath, many 

 years a resident on the Pribylotf Islands, also expressed to me his belief that " pups " 

 feed npon sea-weed. Mr. 11. S. lU'owne, who was on Cojiper Island in 1892, told me 

 that he saw little pups about the Tuiddle of August eating small squid and other 

 things along the beach, and that he never saw tlie mother going near the little 

 " bunches" of seals that were hunting for food for themselves along the shore. 



HahUs of Female Seals tvhen Suckling. 



Within a few hours after a pup is born it receives its first nourishment from the 

 mother; and for some days, while the mother remains about the harem and tlie pup 

 is too young to wander far from it, there can be little or no doubt that each mother 

 seal suckles her own young oms alone. 



It was not until tlie 1st July that I first noted pups forming "pods," or small 

 separate herds; every harem was still well defined, but the pups belonging to each 

 had begun to show greater activity, and the older ones had to some extent formed 

 little "pod's" a few yards distant from the .mother seals. By the 5th .July it was 

 noticeable that the pupa from adjoining harems had "podded" together between 

 them, while the harems themselves were still, with a few exceptions, compact and 

 well delined. 



The cows had not yet begun to go to the water. The few M^et ones seen upon the 

 rookeries were without exception females that were still carrying their young. The 

 seals on a great many small harems were counted, and it was always found at this 

 time that the pups and cows Avere in about equal numbers. Within the next week, 

 however, the cows began to go into the water, but not in great numbers. They 

 seemed content to swim about near the shore, and were often seen hauled-out on 

 some fiat rock after they had been but a few minutes in the water, and, after scratch- 

 ing themselves for a little while, would plunge again into the sea, swim to shore, and 

 go back to the harem to which they belonged. 



On St. George Island, 15th .Inly, as I sat on the low clift's overlooking a part of 

 North rookery, 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 

 flip])er, and one by one they dropped off. The cow then moved slowly back towards 

 the rear of the rookery. She was "attacked" 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 first pups that had approached her was one that persist- 

 ently followed her, attempting to suck every time she stopped, several times secur- 

 ing the teat, while the cow nosed over other pups. It was evident that the mother 

 seal was searching for her own young one, and that she thought that the pup follow- 

 ing 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 thia 

 pup attempted to suck and was seen, or perhaiis 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 waa 

 soon asleep. The pup immediately began to suck, stopping whenever the cow 

 awakened, which happened at very short intervals, and beginning again as soon as 

 the cow slept. It was at last satisfied, and lay down at some distance away and 

 went to slee]). The milk had been taken from the two breasts that were uppermost, 

 the cow not having turned over (as is usual when a cow is suckling her pup) during 

 the fourteen minutes the interrupted nursing was going on. At such times, the cow 

 usually places herself so that all four breasts cnn be reached by the young. 



The second cow, referred to above, did not find lier own pup, nor did I see any pup 

 succeed in getting milk from her. She went quietly to her own harem, and after a 

 few minutes went to sleep. 



On the 18th Julv, on North rookery, St. George Island, a cow was seen by me to 

 come from the Avater, and, alter calling out as if for her young one, she was 



143 approached by several pups, as had been noted frequently before; and, as is 

 usual when cows come from the water, these pnps attempted to suck, but 



■were driven away. One peristeutly followed her; the cow smelt it over many timeSf 



B S, PT VIU 32 



