132 
MARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 
Sea Lions of the California coast, there is but little attachment manifested between 
the sexes ; indeed, much of the Turkish nature is apparent. But the females show 
some affection for their offspring •, yet, if alarmed when upon the land, they will 
instantly desert them, and take to the water. The young cubs, on the other hand, 
are the most fractious and savage little creatures imaginable, especially if awakened 
from their nearly continuous sleeping ; and frequently, when a mother reclines to 
nurse her single whelp, a swarm of others will perhaps contend for the same favor.* 
To give a more extended and detailed account of the Sea Lions, we will 
relate a brief sketch of a sealing season on Santa Barbara Island. It was near the 
end of May, 1852, when we arrived ; and, soon after, the rookeries of "clapmatches," 
which were scattered around the island, began to augment, and large numbers of 
huge males made their appearance, belching forth sharp, ugly howls, and leaping 
out of or darting through the water with surprising velocity ; frequently diving 
outside the rollers, the next moment emerging from the crest of the foaming break- 
* It is positively asserted by the natives of 
St. Paul's Island, Behring Sea, that the female 
Sea Lion of that locality suckles the male pup 
the second year. Special Agent Bryant, who 
has passed several seasons upon this island, has 
informed us that he has investigated the mat- 
ter as far as practicable, and gives credit to the 
assertion. There would seem to be nothing im- 
probable about the young Sea Lion suckling the 
second year, as the fact of yearlings of land 
mammals doing likewise is fully established. 
But whether the female Sea Lion, of a year's 
growth, is denied the nourishment which is af- 
forded to the male, would seem a critical ques- 
tion ; yet, if such is the fact, this may account 
for the great discrepancy of size between the 
adult males and females. 
Although a digression from, yet in a sense 
corroborative of, the habits imputed to the Sea 
Lion, in nursing its young, we will mention 
facts which have just come to our knowledge, 
through the whalemen at Monterey Bay, Cali- 
fornia, which present nearly a parallel case with 
that of the Sea Lions. On the 1st of October, 
1873, the whalers captured a cow whale of the 
Humpback species ; also a calf that was with 
her, which was judged to be about one year 
old. That this yearling was the offspring of the 
captured female, there can be no question, as 
she followed close to the calf (which was first 
harpooned) until it was nearly lifeless ; and when 
the exhausted creature was about to expire, the 
mother made an effort to support it by holding 
it upon the surface of the water with her head. 
These solicitous manifestations on the part of 
the female are regarded as unquestionable evi- 
dence, that the young whale in question was 
her cherished offspring. As soon as it expired, 
the mother turned to make her escape, but while 
in this act, she was "harpooned" and "bomb- 
ed," killing her almost instantly. Both whales 
were towed to the station ; and when the calf 
was cut in, it was found to be a male ; and on 
flensing the mother, a well -grown foetus was 
found in her, which proved, in this instance, 
that the yearling whale not only follows its 
dam, but during that period the mother asso- 
ciates with the adult males, and again becomes 
pregnant before separating from her former calf. 
At the time of the capture of the two whales 
above mentioned, an adult bull was in their 
company, which was also captured. 
