COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 129 



ANALOGY OF THE SEA -OTTER. 



Ill the same way, the sea-otter, a i'ur-bearinff animal ..|l'''T'""' °° - 



, . , . . ■' ■ ^ " , , ■ 1 ii ,- 1 Marine Mam- 



which IS 111 many respects comj)arable with the inr-seal, nntiia, " p les. 

 though its habitat has now become comparatively restricted 

 ill couse(iueiice of ])ersisteut hunting;, was formerly abun- 

 dant not only about the Pribyloff Islands, but also as far 

 south as theliSth degree of latitude on the American coast. 



The theory of the restriction of the fur-seal to the 'United states 

 Pribyloff Islands as its sole possible breeding-place is, voL^t'^y?".''^^' 

 therefore, not in any way supported by the appeal to the 

 "principles of geographic distributiou" here made. Pro- 

 fessor Allen, indeed, explains that it has now beeu dis- 

 covered that the tur-seal of the Californiau coast is a 

 different animal from that of the North Pacific; but this 

 in no way affects the fact that many regions about the 

 northern part of that ocean are naturally adapted by 

 climate to become the breeding resorts of the Korth Pacific 

 fur-seal jiroper. 



BREEDING RESORTS AND SOUTHERN FEEDING RESORTS 

 ARE EQUALLY NECESSARY TO THE FUR-SEAL OF THE 

 NORTH-PACIFIC. 



After a full examination and discussion of the habits and British Com- 

 migrations of the fur-seal, the British Commissioners thus '"'ssion.rs' iie- 



'^ ,, ij. +. +1 • ' • i.- ^- Po^'t- paras. 11-- 



sum up the result or their investigations: 223. 



THE SEAL IS MIGRATORY, AND HAS TWO HOMES. 



The fur-seal of the Jforth Pacific may thns be said, in each case [i. e., j,. . <,„ 



in the ca8e of the seals fre(iueiitiug the two sides of the Pacitic], to * ., pa a. ^ . 

 haAe two habitats or homes between which it migrates, both equally 

 necessary to its existence nnder present circumstances, the one ire- 

 quented in summer, the other during the winter. If it were possible 

 to conftue the fur-seal to the vicinity of the northern islands resorted 

 to during the breeding season, or even within the limits of Kehriug 

 Sea, the species would become extinct in a single year; but if, in any 

 way, it were to be debarred from reaching the islands now chietly 

 resorted to for breeding purposes, it wotild, according to experience 

 recorded elsewhere, sjieedily seek out other places upon which to give 

 birth to its young. 



British Com- 



150 The i^recise meaning of these remarks is very 



clearly indicated by the map illustrating the resorts missloners' Ke 

 and migration -routes of the fur-seals, which is ii])[)endedtoi""'*'^*i'-^''-^^- 

 the report cited. A less complete, and, as the evidence 

 collected in the Keport of the British Commissioners shows, 

 less accurate migration chart of a part of the Xortli Pacific, 

 is appended to the United States Case. But a reference 

 even to this map will show the substantial accuracy of the caY^.'^Maif^No^ 

 statement made by the British Commissioners as to the 'i^- 

 resort, during nearly six months of the year, of the greater 

 ])art of the seals of the eastern part of the Xorth Pacific 

 to the waters adjacent to the coasts of British Columbia. 



Some importance appears, further, in the Case of the 

 United States, to be attached to a statement which is made 

 in the following terms : 



The seals evidently consider these islands their sole home, and only 

 leave them from being forced so to do. If the climate permitted they Ihid-.p. ^'^^■ 

 Avould without doubt remain on or in the vicinity of tlje Pribilof 6*^ a so p. 

 Islands during tlu'. entire year. 



B S, PT VIII 9 



