112 COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



correct in so far as they appear to relate to the originatio- 

 of rookeries ou the Commander Islands, are worthy of 

 quotation : 



Ibid., pp.77, 78. ^^ '^^^ supposed at that time [early in the Russian regime] that the 

 commencemeut of seal life ou tlie Islands of Bering aud Copper prob- 

 ably took place by reason of the indiscriminate killing on those 

 islands, [Pribylofl'J diverting the seal from their usual haunts and 

 making them seek some other localities. 



Q. Was there a large number of seals which left the Pribilov group 

 and went over to the Russian Islands? — A. You could hardly expect 

 them to go in a body. There had hardly been sealing or seal life to 

 any extent on the Commander Islands or Copper and Bering. It had 

 not attracted the attention of the Russians, but after the indiscrimi- 

 nate killing on the Islands of St. Paul and St. George, it was noticed 

 that seal-life increased rapidly on the other islands, and the supposi- 

 tion is a natural o.no that they were diverted from the islands on 

 which they had heretofore been undisturbed and sought other places. 



United States The statements made by Mr. Williams to the Congres- 

 ca-e, Appendix, sional Committee of 1888 differ very widely from that made 

 vo^. n, pp. , j^ ^.^ deposition of the 2nd April, 1892. 

 In this latter he says : 



There is no intermingling of the herds, and the skins of the two 

 herds of the Pribilof and Commander Islands may be so readily 

 129 distinguished from each other that an expert would have no 

 difficulty in at once throwing out from the catch taken on the 

 Commander Islands any skins of the Piibilof herd, and vice versa; 

 deponent understands from ])ersons who have had long experience in 

 the examination of the living animals that the two herds so differ as 

 to belong to separate species of the same genus, and can readily be 

 distinguished from each other. 



THE ABOVE SHOW A PRIMA PACIE PROBABILITY OF 



INTERMINGLING. 



Thus, the opinions previously published by those who 

 have given the greatest amount of attention to tlie habits 

 of the fur-seal of the North Pacific, are sufficient to show 

 that there is a general agreement in respect to the i^rimd 

 facie probability of intercliange and migration of seals 

 between the i)rincipal breeding-places. 



THE RELATIVE PROPORTION OF SEALS FOUND ON EACH 

 OF THE PRIBYLOFFS VARY. 



The known fact that the relative proportions of seals 

 found on St. Paul aud St. George Islands of the Pribyloff 

 group vary from year to year, is interesting as showing 

 that the animals are by no means averse to change their 

 breeding places in accordance with circumstances. 



It is now generally admitted that the same seals do not 

 return necessarily or even usually to the same breeding- 

 ground year after year. Mr. Elliott quotes an experiment 

 made by the Russians, in which 100 young males were 

 marked at one locality on St. Paul Island. Next year some 

 of the seals so marked were included in the catch from 

 '' every part of the island." In 1870, again, a similar experj- 



