HABITS. 311 



"The young one did not seem to notice tbe loss of his mother 

 until about twenty-four hours after her death, when he com- 

 menced to sulk, and obstinately refused to eat, in spite of every 

 effort and strategem to induce him to do so. He gradually 

 wasted away, and finally died of starvation on October 16, 

 having viciously attempted to bite me a few hours before his 

 death. 



" The old male grieved so over the loss of his mate that for 

 some time I was afraid we would lose him also, and at the end 

 of about six weeks he became so thin that I thought it best to 

 remove him to a small tank in-doors. Since, he has been improv- 

 ing slowly up to within ten days, since when he shows a marked 

 improvement." 



The Otaries, wherever occurring, appear to closely agree in 

 their habits, especially during the breeding season. As an 

 interesting supplement to the history of the two l^orthern spe- 

 cies of Sea Lions already given I transcribe the following 

 concise account of the great Southern Sea Lion {Otaria ju- 

 hata), based on recent observations made at the Falkland 

 Islands, without, however, endorsing the author's " ballasting" 

 theory : 



"The Sea Lion attains its full growth at nine years, and 

 annually comes back to the place it was born to breed and shed 

 its hair. The former oj^eration occurs between the 2oth of Decem- 

 ber and the 15th of January, the latter in April and May. The 

 Lions commence to arrive at their 'rookery' in l:fovember to 

 wait for the females, who do not haul up until within two or 

 three days of i^upping. They are fatter at this time than at any 

 other, and have to take in a quantity of ballast to keep them 

 down, without which they could not dive to catch fish. I have 

 opened them at this time, and found, in a j)Ouch they have in- 

 side, upwards of twenty-five pounds of stones, some as large as a 

 goose-egg. As they get thin they have the power of throwing 

 these stones up, retaining only a sufficient quantity to keep 

 them from coming up too freely to the surface. 



"They are very savage in the breeding-season, and are con- 

 tinually fighting, biting large pieces out of each other's hide, 

 and sometimes killing the females. At this time they become 

 an easy prey to man, as they will stand and be killed without 

 trying to get away. 



" The Lioness has her first pup at three years of age, never 

 more than one at a time, and comes up to have intercourse with 



