166 MARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 
under way, and likewise when at anchor, appearing to emerge deliberately from the 
depths below, sometimes only showing their heads, at other times exposing half of 
their bodies, but the instant any move was made on board, they would vanish like 
an apparition under water, and frequently that would be the last seen of them, or, 
if seen again, they would be far out of gun-shot. 
The animals come ashore more during windy weather than in calm, and in the 
night more than during the day ; and they have been observed to collect in the 
largest herds upon the beaches and rocks, near the full and change of the moon. 
They delight in basking in the warm sunlight, and when no isolated rock or shore 
is at hand, they will crawl upon any fragments of drift-wood that will float them. 
Although gregarious, they do not herd in such large numbers as do nearly all others 
of the seal tribe ; furthermore, they may be regarded almost as mutes, in compar- 
ison with the noisy Sea Lions. It is very rarely, however, any sound is uttered 
by them, but occasionally a quick bark or guttural whining, and sometimes a pecul- 
iar bleating is heard when they are assembled together about the period of bring- 
ing forth their young. At times, when a number meet in the neighborhood of 
rocks or reefs distant from the main land, they become quite playful, and exhibit 
much life in their gambols, leaping out of the water or circling around upon the 
surface. 
Its terrestrial movements, however, are quite different from those of the Sea 
Lion, having a quick, shuffling, or hobbling gait, only using its pectorals to draw 
itself along with, while a small portion of the animal's belly alternately rests upon 
the ground, the posterior part of the body, including the hind flippers, being turned 
a little upward. The head and neck are slightly elevated, also, when the animal is 
in its land -traveling attitude, but the creature is not so erect as, nor does it 
present the imposing appearance of, the Sea Lion, in its habits upon the shore. 
Its food is principally fish, and its rapacity in pursuing and devouring the smaller 
members of the piscatory tribes is quite equal, in proportion to its size, to that 
of the Orca. When grappling with a fish too large to be swallowed whole, it 
will hold and handle it between its fore flippers, and, with the united work of its 
mouth — which is armed with incisors, canines, and molars — the wriggling prize is 
demolished and devoured as quickly, and much in the same manner, as a squirrel 
would eat a bur -covered nut. 
The animal is easily tamed, and very soon becomes attached to its keeper. 
We have had several young ones on board ship, and in every instance it was but 
a few weeks before they would follow, if permitted, the one who had especial 
charge of them, and when left solitary, they would express discontent by a sort of 
