186 ORAL ARGUMENT OF .lAMES C. CARTER, ESQ. 



Tlie President, Witliont noticing what the Britisli Ooramissiouers 

 coucur in ? 



Mr. Carter. Without iioticiBg whether the British Commissioners 

 concur or not. 1 shall point out presently that the British Commis 

 sioners, although their report contains a mulLitude of doubts as to 

 whether this or that is true, of conjectures that this or that other 

 thing may be true, yet when you come to see whether they really dis- 

 sent from this statement of ta(!ts by the American Commissioners, the 

 dissent will be found to be very inconsiderable. 



JSTow to show the facts as to the life histoiy of the fur-seal, I read 

 fi^om the report of the American Commissioners: 



1. The Northern fur-seal {Callorhinus ursinus) is an inhabitant of IJering Sea and 

 the Sea of Okhotsk, where it biceds on rocky islands. Only four bieediiiy colonies 

 are known, namely, (1) on the Pribilof Islands, belonging to the United States; (2) 

 on the Commander Islands, belonging to Russia; (3) on Robben Reef, belonging to 

 Russia, and (4) on the Kurile Islands, belonging to .Japan. The Pribilof and Comman- 

 der Islands are in Bering Sea; Robben Reef is in the Sea of Okhotsk near the island 

 of Saghalien, and the Kurile Islands ai'e between Yezo and Kamchatka. The species 

 is not known to breed in any other part of the world. The fur-seals of Lobos Islan<l 

 and the south seas, and also those of the Galai)agos Islands and the islands off Lower 

 California, belong to widely different 8]»ecies and are placed iu different genera from 

 the Northern fur-seal. 



2. In winter the fur-seals migrate into the North Pacific Ocean. The herds from 

 the Commander Islands, Robben Reef, and the Kurile Islands move south along the 

 Japan coast, while the herd belonging to the Pribilof Islands leaves Bering Sea by 

 the eastern passes of the Aleutian chain. 



3. The fur-seals of the Pribilof Islands do not mix with those of the Commander 

 and Kurile Islands at any time of the year. In summer the two herds remain 

 entirely distinct, separated by a water interval of several hundred miles; and in 

 their winter migrations those from the Pribilof Islands follow the American coast 

 in a southeasterly direction, while those from the Commander and Kurile Islands 

 follow the Siberian and Japan coasts in a southwesterly direction, the two herds 

 being separated in winter by a water interval of several thousand miles. This 

 regularity in the movements of the different herds is in obedience to the well known 

 law that migratory animals J'ollow flejinile routes i)i migration and return year after 

 year to the same places to breed. "Were it not for this law there would be no such thing 

 as stability of species for interbreeding and existence under diverse physiographic 

 conditions would destroy all specific characters.' 



The pelage of the Pribilof fur-seals differs so markedly from that of the Com- 

 mander Islands fur-seals that the two are readily distinguished by e.x.])erts, and have 

 very different values, the former commanding much higher prices than the latter at 

 the regular London sales. 



4. Tiie old breeding males of the Pribilof herd are not known to range much south 

 of the Aleutian Islands, but the females and young a])])ear along the American coast 

 as far south as northern California. Returning, the herds of females move north- 

 ward along the coasts of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, in January, 

 February, and March, occurring at varying distances from shore. Following the 

 Alaska coast northward and westward they leave the North Pacific Ocean in June, 

 traverse the eastern passes in the Aleutian chain, and proceed at once to the Pribilof 

 Islands. 



.5. The old (breeding) males reach the islands much earlier, the first coming the 

 last week in April or early in May. They at once land and take stands on the rook- 

 eries, w^here they await the arrival of the females. Each male (called a bull) selects 

 a large rock on or near which he remains until August, unless driven off by stronger 

 bulls, never leaving for a single instant night or day, and taking neither food nor 

 water. Both before and for some time after the arrival of the females (called cows) 

 the bulls fight savagely among themselves for positions on the rookeries and for 

 possession of the cows, and many are severely wounded. All the bulls are located 

 by June 20. 



^ The home of !i siii'cies is the area over which it breeils. It is wiJI Icnown to 

 naturalists that migratory animals, whether mammals, birds, fishes, or iiienibtu's of 

 other groups, leave their homes for a part of the year l)ecause the climatii; conditions 

 or the food supply become unsuited to their needs; and that wherever the home of 

 a species is so situated as to provide a suitable climate and food supply throughout 

 the ;vear such species do not migrate. This is the explanation of the fact that the 

 Northern fur-seals are migrants, while the fur-seals of tropical and warm temperate 

 latitudes do not migrate. 



