APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 633 



2. I went ont first in tbe " Pathfinder," was in her in 18S0 and 1887; 

 in 1888 I was in the "Viva," and in 1889, as well as in 181)0, I was in 

 the "E. B. Marvin,- and was in that vessel last year and this year. 



3. During the last four years I have kept a daily record of the num- 

 ber of seals I secured each day, and the number that I killed and 

 knew sank. These are the figures as given in my diary: 



In 1889 I got 641 seals, and 32 I killed sank. 



In 1890 I secured 475, and lost 21. 



In 1891 1 got 181, and lost 4 (this was on tlie coast; our vessel was warned). 



In 1892 I got 408 skins, and lost 19. 



ISTo good hnnter ought to lose more than I have done this year. I 

 consider that I had very bad luck indeed. If a seal is wounded I chase 

 him, of course, for as long a time as possible, and I am sure that the 

 number of seals that are badly enough wounded to die is very small 

 indeed. I know that if they are not badly enough wounded to be got 

 they will very likely live. 



4. I shoot at a sleeping seal when about 15 yards from it, and at a 

 travelling seal when not more that 60 yards away, that is, with a shot- 

 gun. Nearly every one prefers a shot gun to a rifle, but a good shot 

 will do as well with a riiie. I myself would trust as much to a rifle as 

 a shot gun, because when a bullet hits a seal it is sure to kill it, and 

 we seldom fail to get the seal. 



5. I have found the seals in larger schools both south of Cape Flat- 

 tery (off the Columbia River) and north on the Fairweather Grounds. 

 I have seen forty or fifty together off the Columbia Eiver. Seals are a 

 good deal harder to get when they are in schools than when they are 



alone. 

 70 6. Before this year I found males and females, including grey 



pups, travelling together, but this year I found bulls in schools 

 by themselves; I have seen fifty at one time, all of which I considered 

 to be bulls. I have hunted in Behring Sea five years. On the coast I 

 have killed, I think, a few more females than males, and in Behring 

 Sea it was about the same. This year I got more males than females — 

 about two-thirds were males — and this was the experience of all the 

 hunters on the vessel I was on. 



7. There is no difference between the seals on the Eussian and the 

 American side of Behring Sea, unless it is that those on the liussian 

 side are a little darker in colour. 



8. Three seasons ago I caught seals oft' Kadiak Island with milk in 

 their breasts, but with no pups in their wombs. I thought at the time 

 that there must be a rookery ashore somewhere, and spoke of it at the 

 time. I took two one day that were this way; this was about the last 

 of June. 



9. This year I saw seals all the way across to the Commander Islands; 

 not many, but always a few. We went south of the Aleutian Islands; 

 of course, I could not tell whether the seals that I saw were those 

 breeding on the Eussian islands until I got within 100 miles of Copper 

 Island; the others may have belonged to either the Pribyloft or the 

 Conmiaiuler Islands. I suppose that those I saw came from or were 

 going to the nearest island. 



10. On the passage home from Petropavlovsky, and when about 800 

 miles from Cape Flattery, 1 saw seals at sea. 1 don't know if they were 

 seals from the Commander or. the Pribyloft" Islands. Two different 

 years, when coming home from Behring Sea, we have taken seals 500 

 miles or so from Flattery, and every year we see some. 



