498 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



as if uncertain whether it was her own or not, biit difl not stop, and pxished the pup 

 from her. Thoiij;h 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 the 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, 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 about to the right and 

 left for more than fifteen 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. Had the pup not 

 followed her and finally been allowed to unrse, her actions were such that any one 

 must have concluded that, for more than fifteen minutes, she had been searching for 

 her pup without finding it. 



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. 

 Instances similar to these were noted whenever any considerable time was spent in 

 watching a particular part of a rookery. 



At any time pups might be seen nursing everywhere on the rookeries, but it was 

 not often that a female was actually seen to come from the water, and, within a short 

 time, find a pup to uurse, as would be exi>ected if it were true that she had been a 

 long distance out at sea, and perhaps many days absent from the rookery. When 

 females were seen to come from the sea and soon afterwards allow a pup to nurse, 

 it was generally under circumstances such as those above referred to. 



On the 16th of July, at Starry Arteel rookery, St. George Island, I watched five 

 feujale seals come from the water at ditferent times. All called out at intervals as if 

 for their young ones As they slowly made their way among the harems many pups 

 attempted to nurse, but none were allowed to do so, and every one of these cows, 

 after wandering about for some time in an apparently aimless manner, lay down and 

 went to sleep without having given up any milk. 



On tiie 30th July at North rookery, St. George Island, the most suitable place on 

 either island for such observations, two hours were spent in observing the cows as 

 they came ashore, and though a great many were watched from the time they landed 

 until they either lay down to sleep or returned to the water, not one was seen to 

 suckle a young seal. These and similar instances lead mo to believe that, though for 

 some days or j^orhaps weeks after a young seal is born it is suckled by its own 

 mother alone; after the j'oung seals begin to pod together along the shore, and the 

 females to go into the water, little attention is paid to them by their mothers. 

 Females suckling young are to be seen on the rookeries long after the older pups have 

 begun to go into the water, but these may in the majority of cases be the latest-born 

 pups. From my observations on the rookeries of St. Paul and St. George Island, I 

 cannot but believe that the female seals are often uncertain Avhether young seals 

 that uurse are their own or not, and that many pups nurse without the old female 

 being aware of the fact, so that there is little chance of a very young seal starving 

 to death unless it wanders quite away from the breeding-ground, and I am sustained 

 in this belief by the fact that I never saw an emaciated or weak-looking pup on that 

 part of a rookery nearest the water. 



It was a common thing on both islands to see pups that were lying near mother 

 seals go quietly to them and nurse without the females paying any attention to them, 

 or apparently knowing that the pups were helping themselves. When in Victoria, 

 British Columbia, in October 1892, Mr. H. S. Browne told me that on the Auckland 

 Islands he had watched more than one pup suck from the same cow, and had heard. 

 there that when a mother died the pup would be suckled by another female. 



I was repeatedly told by Agents of the United States Government that whenever 

 females were seen coming from the water they had been out to sea for food. This 

 was manifestly absurd, as when the morning was cold it was ai)iiarent that few seals 

 were absent from the rookeries, but if the sun afterwards came out, or the day grew 

 warmer, hundreds of seals would be seen going to the water, and late in the 

 144 afternoon, or towards evening, as it became cooler, they would return to tlieir 

 respective harems. At such times the water from 100 yards or so in front of 

 the rookery would be black with seals, while further out but few — and sometimes 

 none — were to be seen. Many females were watched from the time they left the 

 harem until they were lost among the multitude of swimming seals. They would 

 slide into the water and roll about with evident enjoj^ment for a few minutes, and 

 then come out upon some rock; after a short rest they returned again to the water. 

 Though a careful watch was ofteu kept, no cow was ever seen by me to enter the 

 Water and swim out to sea. 



