APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 501 



biil]s wero figliting, but a fow minutes later said that lie was mistaken, that their 

 mothers nmst liave been killed at se.i, and the ]tiii)s have died for want of food. He 

 at this time told me that he had never seen so many dead i)n])s on any rookery before. 

 He had seen those on Tolstoi rookery in 1891, but had not visited tliat place in 1892. 



Dead pnps wero lirst nolieed by me on Tolstoi rookery the lUrh August, though 

 photographs taken by Mr. Maynard on the 8th August, while I was on St. George 

 Island, show that at that date there were nearly, if not quite, as many of them on 

 this rookery as there were ten days later. 



At the time I hrst noticed the dead pnps I counted over 4,000, but they lay so 

 closely tog(!ther that it was impossible to judge what proportion to the whole 

 number was seen. I Avas told by the Treasury Agents on the island, and have no 

 uo reason for disbelieving their statements, that when this rookery was carefully 

 examined late in 1891 as many or more dead pups were found among the rocks or 

 other parts of the rookery as were on the oy)en space, and seen and specially remarked 

 npon by the British Commissioners in 1891. This being so, itisreasonable to assume 

 that such A\ onhl be the case again this year. The dead pups noticed by me were on 

 the same ground on a\ liich those seen last year were lying, but were scattered over 

 a larger area, and in much greater numbers. 



I accom]tani('d the British Commissioners when they ins])ected Tolstoi rookery in 

 1891, and the date of my visit to that rookery this year coincided with their visit to 

 it last year. Depending upon my memory alone, I had no hesitation in deciding that 

 there Avas a greater number of dead pups at that jilace in August this year than at 

 the same date in 1891, and a comparison since my return from the islands of the 

 photographs taken during the two seasons proves that this is undoubtedly the case. 



The pu]is when I hrst sa.w them appeared to have been dead liot more than two 

 weeks, and nearly all secm<'d to have died about the same tinu". Very few Avere 

 noted that Avere in a tuore adA'anced state of decomjiosition than those about them, 

 ami the dozen or so that were seen Avere probably pu])s that had died at an earlier 

 date, and from some other cause than that to which this tmusual mortality among 

 the young seals is to be attributed. 



The photogra])hs taken on the 8th August show that at that time there Avere several 

 groups of seals hauled-out on ground on Avhich the dead ])nps lay, but on the 19th 

 August it Avas almost entirely (N'serted by the older seals. This rookery Avas revisited 

 on the 21st August, and at this time an estimate Avas again made of the number of 

 dead pu])S. A large band of Imlluschickie on their way from the Avater to the haul- 

 ing-ground at the back of Tolstoi rookery had stopped to rest on the ground on 

 Aviiich the pups Avere lying and hid a part of them, so that on this occasion a few less 

 than 3,800 Avere counted. On the 23rd August I again A'isited Tolstoi rookery in 

 coni])any Avith Assistant Treasury Agent Ainsworth, Mr. Maynard, the photographer, 

 and Antone Melavedoff, Avho is the niost intclhgcnt native on St. Paul Island, and 

 has charge of all the boats and store-houses belonging to the Com])any. This r^ative 

 acted as boat-steerer at the time the British Commissioners A'isited Tolstoi 

 147 rookery in 1891, and that I might learn his o])iuion regarding the relative 

 number of dead i>ups for the two years 1891-92, I asked him to accompany me 

 on the occasion referred to aboA'C When asked Avhether there Avere as many seals 

 in 1892 as in 1891, he replied: " More; more than I eA'er saw before." I, at the time, 

 asked Mr. Maynard to pay particular attention to Avhat was said, and he has since 

 made an ahidavit to the above elfect, which is appended to this Report. 



Mj' last visit to T(dstoi rookery was made on the 11th Sei)tember. IS'o living seals 

 Avere to be seen on that part of the rookery-ground on Avhicii the dead pnps Avere, and 

 it Avas noAv apparent that they extended further to the left than is shoAvn in the photo 

 graphs taken of them ; that is to say, a part of the ground on Avhich seals are shown 

 in these pliotograi)hs had dead pups on it Avhich at that time could not be seen ; this 

 would add several hundreds to my fornicr estimate of their number. No pups that 

 had died recently Avere to be seen anywhere. It seems reasonably certain that all the 

 dead pups seen on this part of Tolstoi rookery died ;it about the same time, and I 

 Avould incliule Avith tiiem all, or nearly all, that wero lying on the beach. These Avere 

 doubtless throAvn up by the sea, but there is no evidence that they Avere killed by the 

 surf. The shore is sandy, and there had not been a heavy sea breaking upon it for 

 more than a mouth previous to the date the dead ])up8 wei'e first seen. It seems ])08- 

 sible that the mortality among these young pups Avas the result of an epidemic that 

 ran its course in a fcAv days, and attacked only a small portion of the young jmps. 

 That their deaths Avere not caused by starvation was very evident, as they Avere, 

 Avith few exceptions, large and Avell developed, not snutU and emaciated, as is almost 

 invariably the case Avitli those that are knoAvn to have wandered aAvay Irom the 

 breeding-grounds and di*'d of starvation. Itis usual for young seals thatarehungry 

 to congregate at the Avater's edge and there await the arrival of females, returning 

 from the sea to the breeding-gionuds. I haAe on many occasions noted young pups 

 whose continued cries were eA'idence that the little creatures Avere in Avant of food, 

 and invariably pups in this condition were the most persistent in their endeavours 



