130 COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



IF CLIMATE PERMITTED, THE SEALS MIGHT NEVER GO 

 VERY FAR FROM THE BREEDING-ISLANDS. 



Professor J. A. Alleu writes to a similar effect, as follows: 



Ibid., Appen ^^ i*^ evident from Avliat we know of seal life elsewhere, tLat were the 



dix, vol. 1, p. 405. - climate sufficiently mild in winter they would undoubtedly pass the 



whole year at these islands. Owing, however, to the inclemency of 



the winter months the lur-seals are forced to migrate southward iu 



search of food and a milder climate. 



United States ^ ^'^^^ Opinion as to the cause of niigratiou is also 

 ca.se. )). 324! recorded by the United States Commissioners, and the 

 iiii^sioners'^Re- I^i'itish Couimissiouers express themselves iu a similar 

 pi)rt, paras. '.i», mauuer. 



The inquiries of the British Commissioners do not lead 

 to the conclusion that the seals have ever in any consider- 

 able numbers remained on or about the islands even in the 

 ^ -. , c. . mildest winters. The table referred to in the United States 



TTnitcd States^, . . r. ^1 - -i ,. 



Catse, Appendix, Case, A]>pendix II, gives no proof that more than a few 



vol. ii, p. 114. stragglers have remained late in the year on the islands. 



As a i)robleui in natural history, it might be of interest 



to discuss the originating causes of the migratory 



151 habit of the North Pacific fur seals particularly as 



this habit is very exceptional among mammals, and 



stands in direct connection with the marine and pelagic 



nature of the fur-seal; but it is not relevant to the ques- 



c.^^p!i24.^*'**^^^^ons here at issue, for, as is stated in the Case of the 



United States: 



BUT CLIMATE DOES NOT PERMIT, AND THE FACTS ALONE ARE HERE 



IN POINT. 



The fact exists, however, that the Alaskan seal herd is compelled to 

 migrate. 



If the habits of the animal be appealed to, whether in 

 connection with a claim to property right or to appropriate 

 regulations for its preservation, it is the actual habits as 

 these exist, and are imposed by the necessities of the case, 

 that must be considered and dealt with. 



THE ASSERTION THAT THE PRIBYLOFF ISLANDS ARE THE 

 "ONLY home" of THE FUR-SEAL IS THUS BASELESS. 



The statement made in the Case of the United States to 

 the effect that the Pribyloff Islands constitute the "only 

 home" of the "Alaskan fur-seal" appears to be largely 

 founded on similar statements made in the Report of the 

 United States Commissioners. But it is not admitted, even 

 were it possible to show that all the fur-seals of the eastern 

 part of the North Pacific resorted to the Pribyloff Islands 

 for purposes of procreation, that these islands would in 

 consequence be entitled to be characterized as their "only 

 home." An attempt is made to justify the employment of 

 the word "home" in this sense iu the Report of the United 

 States Commissioners, as follows: 



Ibid., p. 324 The home of a species is the area over which it breeds. It is well 



(loot-note). known to naturalists that migratory animals, whethermammals. birds, 



hshes, or members of other grouj)s, leave their homes for a part of the 



