1936] MAMMALS OF OREGON 331 



and the hunters estimated not more than 60 percent of those killed 

 recovered for scalps. In addition hunters were employed by the 

 State to shoot or otherwise destroy as many of the animals as possi- 

 ble. In 1926 the bounty was reduced to 50 cents a scalp and the 

 wholesale killing of these animals for bounty practically ceased, 

 but it was evident that the numbers were greatly reduced. 



In 1908 Warden George W. Phelps, of Three Arch Kocks Reser- 

 vation, near Netarts, stated in a letter to the Biological Survey that 

 the sea lions " were very plentiful, the rocks being covered by them 

 wherever they can get." 



^ In 1917 Warden John Larson, of Astoria, tells of shooting 60 sea 

 lions in about 3 hours on the Ecola Rocks, near Tillamook Head, 

 where about a thousand were sunning themselves on the outside reef 

 (Oreg. Sportsman, 5 (3) : 205, 1917). 



On the Rogue River Reefs and at Cape Blanco the crews of gaso- 

 line boats were killing 300 to 400 sea lions a month for their skins, 

 and making considerable profit from them (Greenwood, Newcombe, 

 and Fraser, 1918, p. %4). 



On June 10, 1923, United States Game Warden Ray C. Steele 

 visited the sea lion rocks near Cape Blanco in company with W. M. 

 Hunter, employed by the State Fish Commission to destroy the sea 

 lions. Large numbers of the animals were seen on the rocks, and 

 106 were killed by Hunter that day. 



General habits. These huge sea lions are generally seen swimming 

 in the surf or resting on the rocky islands off the coast, where their 

 loud and almost continuous roaring carries above the roar of waves 

 and wind. Clumsy and slow on land, they are powerful and graceful 

 swimmers, even in the roughest water. When alarmed on their 

 rocky resting places they struggle and flop to the edge and plunge 

 into the water, sometimes from considerable heights. They are 

 timid and when approached by man seek only to escape into the 

 water, but rival bulls on the breeding grounds fight savagely among 

 themselves and keep at a distance all young and less powerful males 

 luring the breeding season. They are highly social animals and 

 >ften gather on favorably located rocks or islands in large numbers, 

 Formerly sometimes many thousands in a herd. At present, however, 

 :heir numbers have been greatly reduced by killing for skins, oil, and 



>unty, and the large herds are found no more. 



Breeding habits. Steller's sea lion is polygamous, the old bulls 



.king up favorite stations on the rocks in May, fighting for their 

 >ositions and keeping the less powerful males at a distance until the 

 females join them a few weeks later, about the first of June. Elliot 



lys there are usually 10 to 15 cows to a bull. The single large young 



born soon after the arrival of the cow and is nursed and cared for 

 the mother on the rocks until old enough to go into the water. 



ty C. Steele, in his report on the sea lion herd near Cape Blanco, 



lys the animals mate when the pups are only a few days old; the 



sriod of gestation is therefore nearly a year. 



Food habits. Sea lions are known to feed on squids, starfishes, 

 crustaceans, clams, and various kinds of sea food. The stomach con- 



mts of many animals examined along the coasts of California, 



)regon, Washington, and British Columbia by various naturalists 

 tave disproved the oft-repeated statement that they live largely or 



itirely upon salmon and were responsible for the growing scarcity 



