138 



The Living Animals of the World 



outer fur is long and coarse, and only the inner fur 

 of the exquisite texture of the "made" skin. The 

 former is removed, and the latter dyed to the rich 

 brown colour which we see. The fur-seals are steadily 

 diminishing, and each year's catch is smaller than 

 that of the year before. 



The CAPE FUR-SEAL, SOUTHERN FUR-SEAL, and NEW 

 ZEALAND FUR-SEAL are practically extinct for com- 

 mercial purposes. 



THE HAIR-SEALS. 



Among these are the large so-called " sea-lions " 

 of Patagonia and the North Pacific. We are familiar 

 with their appearance, because for many years 

 specimens have been kept at the Zoological Gardens. 

 Their habits are much the same as those of the fur- 

 seals. The principal species are, in the north, 

 STELLER'S SEA-LION, and the PATAGOXIAN SEA-LION in 

 the south. Those kept at the Zoological Gardens 

 are usually of the latter species. 



STELLER'S SEA-LION is already on the road to 

 extinction. When the annual catch of fur-seals 

 reached 100,000 a year, the total number of 

 these northern sea-lions was estimated at between 

 30,000 and 40,000. They repair every year to 

 the Pribyloff Islands to breed, as the fur-seals do, 

 but are shier and more entirely aquatic. The fur 

 of the old males is tawny, and makes a kind 



All sea-lions are polygamous. The males guard their of mane OV6r' the shoulders, whence its name, 

 harenjs very jealously, and fight determinedly with any Qf g an FrancisCO there is a Small rocky island, 



one of the ancient " rookeries " of these sea-lions, 



where they are carefully preserved by the United States Government as one of the sights 

 of the bay. Another favourite haunt in old days was on the Farralone Islands, thirty miles 

 from the bay. 



Southwards, towards the Antarctic, on the desolate and uninhabited coasts and islets of 

 the Far Southern Ocean, the most characteristic of the fauna still remaining are the sea-lions. 

 Formerly they swarmed in great packs, crowding at the breeding-season the seaweed-covered 

 rocks with their huge and unwieldy forms, and at other times cruising in uncouth and noisy 

 companies in search of the fishes and squids, which they pursued like packs of ocean-wolves. 

 In spring the sea-lions used to struggle on to the flat shore, where the equally aquatic 

 tribes of penguins, which had lost the use of their wings, covered acre after acre of rock with 

 their eggs and young. These the sea-lions devoured. When the men of the first exploring- 

 ships visited the penguins' nurseries, all the ungainly birds began to hop inland, evidently 

 taking the men for seals, and thinking it best to draw them as far from their native element 

 as possible. But the eared seals can make good progress of a kind on land. When Captain 

 Musgrave and his crew were cast away for twenty months on the Auckland Islands, they 

 found their tracks on the top of a hill four miles from the water. Captain Musgrave also 

 saw the mother seals teaching their puppies to swim ; they were by no means inclined to 

 do this, and were afraid of the water fairly clear presumptive evidence that seals have only 

 recently, so far as natural time is counted, taken to the aquatic life, and modified their form 

 so profoundly as they have. 



The PATAGONIAN SEA-LION is perhaps the most numerous species, though its numbers 



JJy permission of Professor Jiuntpt 



SEA-LION. 



York. 



