COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 189 



life, as to the actual distances to which seals supposed to 

 be engaged in feeding might go from the breeding islands. 

 They found, in the first place, that the natives generally, 

 both of the Pribylofit' and Commander Islands, believed 

 that the female seals did not feed at all till the young had 

 been weaned; while other authorities stated very varied ^^^j^ritish Com. 

 distances for the length of supposed feeding excursions, port.^ara^ 307.^' 

 taking for granted in many cases that the mere presence 

 of seals at sea during the breeding season, showed that 

 the animals so seen had come away from the breeding- 

 islands in search of food. All available opinions up to theg^™^' paras, 

 date at which their Eeport was written are included in it, 

 and serve to show the actual information at that time. 



BEEEDING SEALS DO NOT GO FAR FROM THE BOOKERIES 



FOR ANY PURPOSE. 



The British Commissioners then explain the result of 

 their own observations in 1891, which show that the seals 

 are always to be found in considerable numbers close along 

 the rookery fronts, while comparatively few seals are seen 

 as much as half-a-mile from the rookeries, and that at a 

 distance of, say, 4 miles to seaward of these places, it would 

 be difficult for any observer to say by appearances at sea 

 alone where a rookery ground existed. They then write to 

 the following effect: 



It is, however, certain, from statements obtained, that females in ibid., para. 314. 

 milk are occasionally killed at sea by jjelagic sealers, and though it is 

 possible that there are females which have deserted the islands in 

 consequence of having been driven up to the killing-grounds with the 

 holluschickie, or because of some other cause of disturbance, such as 

 the death of their young, it is highly probable that in the later sum- 

 mer and autumn the distance to which the females go from the breed- 

 ing-place becomes gradually increased. It is, nevertheless, scarcely 

 credible that, under any circumstances, the females engaged in feeding 

 their young can navigate to great distances from the islands on erratic 

 courses, and subsequently return punctually and without fail to their 

 rookeries ; and any assumption made on this basis must be regarded 

 as requiring proof of a character very different to that so far advanced 

 by those holding such a belief. 



STATEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES CASE RESPECTING 

 FEMALES IN MILK KILLED AT SEA. 



In examining the evidence on this subject which is spe- see particular- 

 cially relied upon and is referred to in the Case of the (Ja^l^ppanfiis. 

 United States, in support of the theory that the death of 

 young seals on the islands is due to the killing of the 



mothers at sea, it will be noticed that several of the 

 219 witnesses speak merely of having killed occasional 



seals in milk at long distances from the Pribyloff 

 Islands, while in other cases it is taken for granted that any 

 seals se'en in Behring Sea during the breeding season must be 

 females cruizing from the islands in search of food. Sev- 

 eral witnesses affirm that large numbers of breeding females 

 in milk are taken at long distances from the islands. But 

 such females, it may well be assumed, are but strays, driven 

 from the islands by the constant disturbances there, or 



