APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 499 



On the 23rd July, at Liikannon and Ketavie rookeries, more than half the seals 

 were in the water, bnt careful examination, tbrongh ti eld-glasses, of the sea in front 

 of these rookeries, neither showed seals coming towards the land nor going from ii. 



Duriug the seasoua of 1891 and 1892, but more especially in 1892, I spent much 

 time at sea in the vicinity of the seal islands, and during both seasons kept a care- 

 ful count of the number of seals seen in the water. It was noted in both years that 

 while the seals were very abundant in the immediate vicinity of the rookeries, and 

 a few were always to be seen between 2 and 3 miles froiii tlie islands, very few were 

 after that to be seen until we had gone along distance out to sea. It is thus evident 

 that the number of seals goiug to and from the islands is very small. 



On the 11th September, when, on H. M. S. "Melpomene," we steamed from North- 

 east Point to the village of St. Paul — a distance of about 11 miles — being never 

 more than three miles from the shore, and most of the time much ne.'irer to it, when 

 oft" North-east Point, Polavina and Reef rookeries, thousands of seals were, with the 

 aid of tield-glasses, seen playing in the water near the shore, but very few close to 

 the ship at the distance stated from the land. 



No visit was paid to any rookery on either St. George or St. Paul without a care- 

 ful examination of the rookery and hauliug-gronnds being nmde, for the purpose of 

 recording the amount of excrement to bCSeen on tbem; the matter being of impor- 

 tance in connection with the question of the feeding or abstinence of seals during the 

 breeding season. Shortly before labour began a female was sometimes seen to void 

 a small quantity of excrement; once only, in addition to this, did I see excrement on 

 rookery-ground that had not been voided by pups. In the instance referred to, Mr. 

 Brown, who was with me at the time, said that it was probably from a female that 

 had recently come ashore. 



In this connection Captain Bryant may be quoted.* He says: "I found, in a few 

 instances, where newly-arrived seals had made a single discharge of red-coloured 

 excrement, bnt nothing was seen afterwards to show that such discharges were con- 

 tinued, or any evidence that the animals had partaken of food." 



Mr. Vincent Colyer, in liis Report to the Secretary of the Interior, dated 18th Feb- 

 ruary, 1870, lilcewise says: "The assertion that the fur-seal eats but little food from 

 June to September maybe true; certainly, t])ere was little or no offensive excrement 

 even in October, when I believe it is acknowledged that they do get some food from 

 the water." t 



On the 27th July a large piece of fresh , light-coloured excrement, firm, and of cylin- 

 drical form, was noticed on the ground where holluschickie had been; a great many 

 worms, such as are found in seals' stomachs, were mixed with it. 



A large harem, the resort of over 300 seals, near the west end of Reef rookery, was 

 visited by me almost daily, and excrement was always carefully looked for. This 

 harem lay just beneath an overhanging bank, and the opportunities for observation 

 were excellent; but, though between twenty and thirty visits were made to this 

 place, no excrement Avas ever seen either on the breeding-ground or the slope lead- 

 ing to it, with the exception of very small pieces voided by pups, which difters 

 greatly from that of older seals, both in shape and colour. While it is certain that 

 holluschickie go to and from the water at all times, and when the weather is warm 

 quit the land almost eti viasse, there is no satisfactory evidence to show that they feed 

 while in the water. Several hundred stomachs were opened in my presence during 

 the summer of 1892, and no trace of food was found in any of them, tliough, while 

 struggling together in the killing-ground, some of them voided a small quantity of 

 dark yellowish excrement. 



Elliott, however, says that they do eat when they go out to sea.t He refers also 

 to the fact that the supply of seals on the hauling-gronnds is kept up during the 

 summer by new arrivals from the sea; and Mr. (ieorge Tingle, in a letter dated 18t.li 

 July, 1890, and addressed to Mr. C. J. Goff, the Treasury Agent in charge of the 

 145 Pribylott' Islands, says: "We have every reason to believe, from the marked 

 increase of new arrivals of Hite seals, that, if we were allowed to continue our 

 killing under the law, we could fill our quota of ()0,000 skins." $ 



There can be no doubt that immense numbers of seals resort to Behring Sea during 

 the summer season that do not go to the islands at all, or, if at all, only vei-y late in 

 the season. 



Seals are to be seen south of the Aleutian Islands in July and August, in consider- 

 able numbers; and late in July in 1892, a great many seals wei'e seen from H. M. S. 

 " Daphne " not far from Cape Cheerful ; while it was reported to me that, a few daya 

 before this, large bodies of seals had been seen from the United States cruizer 

 the same place. About 25th July a whaling vessel arrived at 



* "On Eared Seals," p. 101. 



t H. R., 4] st Congress, 2nd Session, Ex. Doc. No. 144, p. 5. 



t Census Re]iort, p. 44. 



i Senate, 5l8t Congress, 2nd Session, Ex. Doc. No. 49, p. 27. 



