HABITS OF THE SEA OTTER. 345 



they shed their far just as the hair of man grows and falls out; 

 the reason is evident, for they must be ready for the water at 

 all times. 



"The seaotter mother sleeps in the water on her back, with 

 her young clasped between her fore-paws. The pup cannot live 

 Without its mother, though frequent attempts have been made 

 by the natives to raise them, as they often capture them alive, 

 but, like some other species of Avild animals, it seems to be so 

 deeply imbued with fear of man that it invariably dies from 

 self-imposed starvation. 



'' Their food, as might be inferred from the flat molars of 

 dentition, is almost entirely composed of clams, muscles, and 

 sea-urchins, of which they are very fond, and which they break 

 by striking the shells together, held in each fore-paw, sucking 

 out the contents as they are fractured by these eftbrts ; they 

 also undoubtedly eat crabs, andthe juicy tender fronds of kelp 

 or sea- weed, and fish. 



" They are not polygamous, and more than an individual is 

 seldom seen at a time when out at sea. The flesh is very un- 

 palatable, highly charged with a rank smell and flavor. 



" They are playful, it would seem, for I am assured by several 

 old hunters that they have watched the sea-otter for half an 

 hour as it lay upon its back in the water and tossed a piece of 

 sea-weed up in the air from paw to paw, apparently taking great 

 delight in catching it before it could fall into the water. It will 

 also play with its young for hours. 



" The quick hearing and acute smell possessed by the sea- 

 otter are not equaled by any other creatures in the Territory. 

 They will take alarm and leave from the effects of a small fire, 

 four or five miles to the windward of them ; and the footstep 

 of man must be washed by many tides before its trace ceases 

 to alarm the animal and drive it from landing there should it 

 ai)proach for that i)urpose. 



" There are four principal methods of capturing the sea-otter, 

 viz, by sitrf-shooting, by spearlng-surrounds, by cluhhing, and by 

 nets. 



" The surf-shooting is the common method, but has only been 

 in vogue among the natives a short time. The young men have 

 nearly all been supplied with rifles, with which they patrol the 

 shores of the island and inlets, and whenever a sea-ottefs head 

 is seen in the surf, a thousand yards out even, they fire, the 

 great distance and the noise of the surf preventing the sea- 



