SEA-ELEPHANT— NORTHERN SEA- LION 261 



up the ravines from the bays, and there assemble in herds of several hundreds, 

 thus easily falling into the hands of the hunters. About 1860 they had 

 become so rare that hunting did not pay, and from that time to 1880, so few 

 were seen round the islands of Guadaloupe and San Benito, that they were 

 believed to be exterminated, but in that year the crew of a schooner killed thirty 

 in the Bay of San Cristobal, and in 1882 forty more were killed and six young 

 ones brought alive to San Francisco, one of which was sent to the Zoological 

 Gardens at Philadelphia. A larger number were killed in 1883, and in October 

 1884, when the schooner Laura visited the Bay of San Cristobal by order of the 

 National Museum of the United States, the crew found three young animals, 

 which were spared in the hope that later on they might be joined by others. 

 All the other localities in the south of Lower California which in former times had 

 been inhabited by elephant-seals were afterwards searched, but without success. 

 Returning to San Cristobal in December, the party found fifteen head, all of which 

 wei'e killed. Since that date specimens have been obtained from Guadaloupe 

 Island. 



Northern The largest representative of the eared seals, a group entirely 



Sea-Lion. unknown in the North Atlantic, is the northern sea-lion (Otaria 

 stelleri), a species which grows to a length of 13 feet, with a girth of 10 feet, and 

 a weight of as much as 1300 lbs. Eared seals, it is almost unnecessary to mention, 

 differ from the typical seals by the retention of small external ear-conchs. They 

 are further distinguished by the hind-flippers being disconnected with the tail, and 

 directed forewards when on land, and the relatively great length of the fore-flippers, 

 as well as by a distinct constriction at the neck. The males are also much larger 

 than the females, and both sexes pass the breeding-season on land, when each male 

 collects a party of females. 



In colour this species is light chestnut-brown when young, but the older 

 animals are light reddish brown when they reach the breeding-grounds. Later on 

 the hair bleaches to an ochery tint, but the new coat of the males in November is 

 a full brown, darker on the under-parts, the females being much lighter. This seal 

 ranges from the islands of Bering Sea to California and Japan, and on the Pribiloffs 

 is found in company with the northern fur-seal, or sea-bear, from which it differs not 

 only by its general appearance and greatly superior size, but likewise by its gait 

 and habits. On land it is a much slower mover than the fur-seal, its pace being only 

 about one-third as fast. During the breeding-season the males travel less far 

 inland, seldom ascending above the line of the highest tides. The males arrive 

 early in May at the breeding-grounds, where they are followed by the females 

 three or four weeks later. The most powerful males collect from ten to fifteen 

 females around them, with which they remain until the end of September. The 

 males allow the females to go wherever they please, and often carry the young on 

 their backs down to the surf, where they play together. In this respect they are 

 quite unlike the sea-bears, which never indulge in any such games. They also differ 

 from the latter in not deserting the breeding-grounds to return in spring, remaining 

 near the Pribiloffs throughout the year, although from the setting-in of rough 

 weather in January until the melting of the ice and snow they divide into small 

 parties. 



