THE SEA BEAR, OR URSINE SEAL. 519 
colour of the male Sea Lion is a reddish-brown, which becomes paler after the animal is 
advanced in years. Upon the neck and shoulders is a heavy mass of stiff, curly, erisp 
hair, which bears some resemblance to the mane of the lion, and has earned for the 
creature the name of Sea Lion. The female is destitute of this mane, and her fur is 
sometimes chestnut and sometimes ochry-brown. 
It is not exclusively confined to the localities above mentioned, but is sometimes seen 
off the coast of Northern America, in the month of July. During the autumn the Sea Lions 
are found in very great numbers upon the shores of Behring’s Island, where they assemble 
for the purpose of rearing their young through the first few weeks of their life. They 
are polygamous, but restrict themselves to three or four females. 
They are naturally quiet and peaceable animals, permitting the approach of mankind 
with great indifference, and suffering themselves to be roughly treated before they will 
condescend to move from the spot on which they may happen to be lying. The hunters 
make easy prey of these slothful animals, which are not so active as the elephant Seal, 
nor so fierce as the walrus. The females seem to be more apathetic respecting their cubs 
than is generally the case among Seals, and will frequently relinquish their offspring in 
their haste to escape from their human foes. The natives are in the habit of killing the 
Sea Lions by poisoned arrows, or by harpoons. As the wounded animal would be 
sufficiently strong to escape in spite of the harpoons, the native hunters attach the 
harpoon-line to a post firmly planted in the ground, and are thus enabled to delay the Sea 
Lion until they can inflict a fatal wound. 
They are marvellously blatant animals, keeping up a continual chorus of vociferations 
as long as they are on land. The old males are the most noisy of the party, snorting 
discordantly, and roaring like magnified lions. The females answer by loud bleatings, and 
the young of both sexes add their voices in a less degree. The united cries of a large herd 
of Sea Lions are so deafening, that human senses are almost stunned by the clangorous 
uproar. 
This species is said to feed upon fish and smaller Seals, being extremely dreaded by 
the latter animals, and ruling supreme in its own domains. The teeth of the Sea Lion 
are very singular in their shape and arrangement, the molars being furnished with sharp 
trenchant points, some of the incisors double-headed, and others long and pointed like 
canine teeth. 
As the mane-clad neck and shoulders of the preceding animal have earned for it the 
title of Sea Lion, so the generally ursine aspect of the present species has gained the name 
of SEA Bear. 
It is not a very large animal, being hardly eight feet in length. As its limbs are larger 
and better developed than in the generality of the Seals, it can stand and walk in more 
active manner than any of the preceding members of the phocine family. The colour of 
its fur is very pleasing, the long hairs being of a greyish-brown, while the thick soft wool 
that lies next to the skin is reddish-brown. The fur is extremely soft and warm, and of 
high value as an article of commerce. When it is dressed by the furriers, the entire 
coating of long hairs is removed, the wool only being left adherent to the skin. Upon the 
neck and shoulders of the male animal there is a kind of mane, composed of rather stift 
hairs about two inches in length, and of a grizzled aspect, the hairs themselves being jetty- 
black, and their tips white. The whole of the fur is thick and long, and does nct le closely 
to the body. 
It is not so easily caught as the sea lion, for it is not only very active in the water, but 
can proceed upon land with such rapidity that a man who wishes to overtake an affrighted 
Sea Bear will be forced to exert his utmost speed before he can attain his object. 
The Sea Bears are found in great numbers about Kamtschatka and the Kurile islands, 
and at the beginning of summer are so numerous as to blacken the banks on which they 
repose. Being polygamous, the males are extremely jealous, and will not suffer any 
strangers to approach the limits of his own family. The entire sea-beach is therefore 
mapped out, so to speak, in little domains, each belonging to a separate family, and guarded 
with the most jealous care. As the number of females over which a single male bears sway 
