754 M. ANGUSTIROSTKIS CALIFOENIAN SEA ELEPHANT. 



of the most inaccessible points on the main-land between As- 

 uncion and Cerros. When coming up out of the water, they 

 were generally first seen near the line of surf ; then crawling up 

 by degrees, frequently reclining as if to sleep ; again, moving 

 up or along the shore, appearing not content with their last 

 resting-place. In this manner they would ascend the ravines, 

 or ' low-downs,' half a mile or more, congregating by hundreds. 

 They are not so active on land as the seals ; but, when excited 

 to inordinate exertion, their motions are quick the whole body 

 quivering with their crawling, semi- vaulting gait, and the ani- 

 mal at such times manifesting great fatigue. Notwithstanding 

 their unwieldiness, we have sometimes found them on broken 

 and elevated ground, fifty or sixty feet above the sea. 



'^The principal seasons of their coming on shore, are, when 

 they are about to shed their coats, when the females bring forth 

 their young (which is one at a time, rarely two), and the mat- 

 ing season. These seasons for 'hauling up' are more marked 

 in southern latitudes. The diftereut periods are known among 

 the hunters as the 'pupping cow,' ' brown cow,' ' bull and cow,' 

 and ' March bull ' seasons ; * but on the California coast, either 

 from the influence of climate or some other cause, we have no- 

 ticed young pups with their mothers at quite the oi)posite 

 months. The continual hunting of the animals may possibly 

 have driven them to irregularities. The time of gestation is 

 supposed to be about three-fourths of the year. The most 

 marked season we could discover was that of the adult males, 

 which shed their coats later than the younger ones and the fe- 

 males. Still, among a herd of the largest of those fully ma- 

 tured (at Santa Barbara Island, in June, 1852), we found sev- 

 eral cows and their young, the latter apparently but a few days 

 old. 



" When the Sea Elephants come on shore for the purpose of 

 'shedding', if not disturbed they remain out of water until the 

 old hair falls oft". By the time this change comes about, the 

 animal is supposed to lose half its fiit; indeed, it sometimes 

 becomes very thin, and is then called a 'slim-skin'. 



" In the stomach of the Sea Elephant a few pebbles are 

 found, which has given rise to the saying that 'they take in 

 ballast before going down ' (returning to the sea). On warm 



* RefoiTing to the habits of the Southern Sea Elephaut (J/rttro/7u"H.s leo- 

 niniis), as he had " learned from ship masters who have takeu Seals about 

 Kergueleu's Land, the Crozets, and Hurd's Island." See Proc. Acad. Nat. 

 Sci. Phila., 1869, p. 64. 



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