HABITS. /555 



cotes les males se battre entre eux pour s'enlever les uns aux 

 aiitres les femelles. Chaque male en rassemble cle dix a vingt, 

 se montre jaloux, ne souffre aucun autre male, et attaque ceux 

 qui tentent de s'approclier; il les tue par ses morsures ou s'en 

 fait tuer. Dans le premier cas, il s'empare des femelles du 

 vaincu. Nous avons trouve plusieurs males 6tendus morts sur 

 la plage, des seules blessures qu'ils avaient regues dans les com- 

 bats. Quelques femelles avaient deja des petits. Les Al^outes 

 en prirent plusieurs douzaines pour nous. L'animal n'est pas 

 dangereux; il fuit a I'approche de I'homme, excepts depuis la 

 mi-mai jusqu'a la mi-juin, qui est le plus fort temps du rut, et 

 oil les femelles mettent bas leurs petits; alors il ne se laisse 

 pas approclier et il attaque meme."* Choris's plates (Nos. 

 XIV and XV of the chapter on the Aleutian Islands, the 

 work is not regularly paged) doubtless give a very good idea of 

 the appearance of these animals and the Sea Bears when assem- 

 bled on the land. Plate XIV, entitled "Lions Marins dans 

 I'ile de St.-Georges," gives a ^dew of a large assemblage of these 

 animals, in which the various attitudes are duly represented, 

 the animals in the foreground being depicted with considerable 

 accuracy of detail. 



In 1870 I was able to add the following remarks by Captain 

 Bryant: "The Sea Lion visits St. Paul's Island in considerable 

 numbers to rear its young. It is one of the largest of the 

 Seal family, the male frequently measuring thirteen feet in 

 length, and weighing from fifteen to eighteen hundred pounds, [t] 

 Its habits are the same as those of the Fur Seal. When roused 

 to anger it has a very marked resemblance, through the form 

 of its head and neck, to the animal from which it is named, and 

 its voice, when roaring, can be heard to a great distance. Its 

 body is thickly covered with fine, short, dark ["?] brown hair, 

 without any fur. Its skin is of considerable value as an article 

 of commerce in the Territory, it being used in making all kinds 

 of boats, from a one-man canoe to a lighter of twenty tons' bur- 

 den. The natives of all the Aleutian Islands and of the coast as 

 far east as Sitka, besides those of many ports on the mainland 

 to the north, reW on this island for a supply of the skins of this 

 animal. The rookery is on the northeast end of the island, and 

 the animals have to be driven ten or eleven miles to the village 



* Voy. Pittoresque autour du Monde, lies Al^outiennes, pp. 12, 13. 

 t See antea, p. 233, second paragraph of footnote, for Captain Bryant's 

 later statements respecting size and weight. 



