204 COUNTER-CASE OP GREAT BRITAIN. 



tion, and in the case of the fur-seal it is not possible to substitute for 

 Buch provision the artificial selection of breeding males, as is done 

 ■with animals under the control of man. 



The particular point last alluded to in the above extract 

 is also very well taken by Count Tomniaso Salvadori, who, 

 in his reply to a '' Circular Letter" by Dr. C. H. Merriaui, 

 elsewhere referred to, writes: 



United States But, at the same time, I think that the yearly killing of about 

 Case, Appeutiix, 100,000 young males on the Pribilof Islands must have some influence 

 vol.i,p.423. Q^ ^]jg diminution of the herds, especiaUi/ preventixg ihe natural or 



sexual selection of the stronger males, which would follow, if the young 



males were not killed in such a great number. 



Further, it must be borne in mind that, though large 

 numbers of seals not actually engaged in breeding resort to 

 the breeding-islands, the true reason of the coming to land 

 of the fur-seals for a certain ])ortion of each year, is the 

 necessity imposed on the females so to do for the purpose 



of giving birth to their young. It is at this i)artic- 

 235 ular season that most wild animals are by civilized 



peoples granted a period of respite from disturbance 

 and slaughter, and though in this instance it has been 

 exceptionally held, as a theorj^, that the non-breeding 

 young males can be secured and killed without disturbing 

 the actually breeding seals, this is not in fact the case. 



ANY DISTURBANCE ON THE ISLANDS DELETERIOUS AND 



UNNATURAL. 



Isolation and quiet are the ruling cause of the resort of 

 the seals to these particular ishmds. This is sufficiently 

 plain from an examination of the circumstances in the 

 North Pacific, and it is unnecessary to go further afield in 

 search of climatic or physical conditions of a peculiar 

 kind. The known facts respecting seal rookeries in other 

 parts of the world may, however, be referred to as afitbrd- 

 ing confirmatory evidence to the same effect. 



The British Commissioners write as follows on this sub- 

 ject: 



British Com- It is thus clear that the slaughter of seals upon the breeding islands 

 missioiiers' Re- jg jn itself an essentially critical and dangerous method of killing, 

 port, para. 76. -which, though established by long custom, cannot be otherwise justi- 

 fied. No regiilatious wiiich have heretofore been devised have even 

 theoretically removed such dangers. 



Ibid., para. 35. The fact that the Pribyloff Islands are now permanently 

 inhabited by man, apart from the more specific disturbance 

 of the breeding-places which results from the methods of 

 taking the seals, must in itself be regarded as an anomalj^ 

 The smoke and movement incident to habitation of the 

 islands, and the odour of the many thousand putrid car- 

 casses upon the various killing-grounds, must have a dis- 

 turbing effect upon the seals. 



It remains to be noted, in connection with the question 

 of the managetnent of the Pribyloff Islands, that expres- 

 sions to be found in the writings of various authors, refer- 

 ring in terms of approval to the methods of management, are 

 based, probably in every instance, on the statements con- 

 tained in the earlier works of Mr. H. W. Elliott. Through 



