304 ZALOPHUS CALIFORNIANUS CALIFORNIA^ SEA LIOX. 



way. I picked up many of them in my hands; after a brief 

 struggle, the little captive would yield, and seemed to fear no 

 further harm. Hundreds slept so soundly that I rolled them 

 over before they could be induced to open their great baby 

 eyes. While thousands slept and basked on the shore, an 



! equal number floated lazily in the water, or dipped and dived 



; about in sport. 



"The mother-seals were more timid than their young, but 



- seemed less alarmed than surprised at my approach. The look 



' of startled inquiry was so human and feminine nay, lady-like,, 

 that I felt like an intruder on the privacy of the nursery. 

 1 " I could not discover any individual claim set up by the 



- mother for any particular little lion, but, like a great socialistic 

 community, maternal love seemed to be joint-stock property, 

 and each infant communist had a mother in every adult female. 

 "Thefatliers of the great family appeared, in point of num- 

 bers, to be largely in the minority; counting, as I judged, not 

 the hundredth part of the adult animals. A few bearded, 

 growling old fellows tumbled about in the water, yelling and 

 howling in a most threatening manner at me, and approaching 

 within a few feet of where I stood. A pebble tossed at one of 

 them, however, would be answered by a plunge beneath the 

 surface and reappearance at a safer distance. 



" I witnessed an unexpected act of tenderness on the part of 

 one of thehugest and most boisterous old threateners for a little 

 one that seemed to claim him for papa. He was blowing and 

 screaming at me fearfully, when a young one at my feet hus- 

 tled into the water, glided off to the old one, and, childlike, 

 placed its mouth up to his. The old savage ceased his noise, 

 returning the caress, and seemed, for several seconds, to forget 

 his wrath at the unwelcome intruder. This show of affection 

 saved his life. I was, at the moment, rifle in hand, waiting a 

 chance to dislocate his neck. I wanted the skull of an otaria 

 for my collection, and his huge size suggested him as an appro- 

 priate victim. I at once lost all murderous desire, and left him 

 to the further enjoyment of paternal felicity. 



" The noise and uproar, of the locality can scarcely be im- 

 agined. A hundred thousand seals grunting, coughing, and 

 shrieking at the same instant, made a phocine pandemonium 

 I shall never forget. I will observe here that the male, was 

 four times as large as the female."* 



* J. Ross Browne's Resources of the Pacific Slope. Sketch of the Settle- 

 ment and Exploration of Lower California, 1869, p. 150. 



