354 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. 



they are of the highest type of the carnivora, eating fish as a 

 regular means of subsistence 5 [*] varying the monotony of this 

 diet with occasional juicy fronds of sea- weed, or kelp, and per- 

 haps a crab, or such, once in a while, provided it is small and 

 tender, or soft-shelled. 



u Between the 12th and 14th of June the first of the cow-seals 

 come up from the sea, and the bulls signalize it by a universal, 

 spasmodic, desperate fighting among themselves. 



u The strong contrast between the males and females in size 

 and shape is heightened by the air of exceeding peace and 

 amiability which the latter class exhibit. 



" The cows are from 4 to 4J feet in length from head to tail, 

 and much more shapely in their proportions than the bulls, the 

 neck and shoulder being not near so fat and heavy in propor- 

 tion to the posteriors. 



"When they come up, wet and dripping, they are of a dull, 

 dirty-gray color, darker on the back and upper parts, but in a 

 few hours the transformation made by drying is wonderful ; 

 you would hardly believe they could be the same animals, for 

 they now fairly glisten with a rich steel and maltese-gray luster 

 on the back of the head, neck, and spine, which blends into an 

 almost pure white on the chest and abdomen. But this beauti- 

 ful coloring in turn is altered by exposure to the weather, for 

 in two or three days it will gradually change to a dull, rufous 

 ocher below, and a cinereous-brown and gray-mixed above ; this 

 color they retain throughout the breeding-season up to the time 

 of shedding the coat in August. 



" The head and eye of the female are really attractive ; the 

 expression is exceedingly gentle and intelligent ; the large, lus- 

 trous eyes, in the small, well-formed head, apparently gleam 

 with benignity and satisfaction when she is perched up on some 

 convenient rock and has an opportunity to quietly fan herself. 



" The cows appear to be driven on to the rookeries by an ac- 

 curate instinctive appreciation of the time in which their period 

 of gestation ends ; for in all cases marked by myself, the pups 

 are born soon after landing, some in a few hours after, but most 

 usually a day or two elapses before delivery. 



[* The habit of swallowing stones is one apparently common to all of the 

 Pinnipeds. The common belief among sealers and others is that they take 

 in these stones as ballast. Compare on this point a quotation already given 

 respecting the Southern Sea Lion (Otariajiibata), anted, p. 311. Mr. Elliott's 

 explanation appears to be more reasonable than most that have been pro- 

 posed.] 



