1 10 CARNIVORES. 



circumstance he assures me of is, that in the stomach of every one he has examined, 

 with the single exception of a young animal, there existed a quantity of pebbles. 

 The amount varied in individuals from a few to many." 



The females give birth to a single young one about the end of 

 the year, equivalent to our midsummer. During the pairing season, 

 which is in February and March, pitched battles occur between the males, during 

 which the females look quietly on. At such times the males are savage ; and if 

 attacked will stand their ground. The old males generally utter a low kind of 

 growl, but in the breeding-season this is prolonged into a loud, voluminous, inter- 

 rupted roar. The young utter a kind of bleating cry. From July to November 

 these seals migrate southwards from the Falklands. In colour the young are of a 

 deep chocolate, but paler after the first year ; the old males being of a rich brown 

 tint, and the females greyer ; while at all ages, and in both sexes, the nippers are 

 of a darker hue than the body. 



The Northern Sea-Lion (Otaria stelleri). 



The northern sea-lion, which is likewise a hair-seal, differs from the preceding 

 species, and agrees with all those that follow by the absence of a mane on its neck. 

 by its narrow and pointed nose, relatively long ears, and by the flattened palate of 

 the skull, which is not truncated behind. In the concave facial profile it differs 

 from the southern sea-lion. 



This is the largest member of the whole group, full-grown males, according 

 to Mr. Allen, measuring from 11 to 12-£ or 13 feet in total length, of which the tail 

 forms 3 or 4 inches ; while their girth varies from about 8 to 10 feet, and their 

 weight is estimated at from 1000 to 1300 lbs. In colour the young are of a 

 rich dark chestnut-brown. The adults, when they first reach the breeding-grounds, 

 are of a light brownish rufous colour in both sexes, the tint being darker between 

 the fore-limbs and. on the under-parts. Later on in the season the colour changes, 

 however, to a golden rufous or ochrey tint ; and when the new winter coat appears 

 in November, the colour has been described as a light sepia, or Vandyke brown, 

 with deeper tints on the under-parts ; and at this season of the year the females 

 are distinctly of a lighter colour than the males. 



This fine seal inhabits the shores of the North Pacific from Behring 

 Strait southwards to California and Japan, and is one of the species 

 found in the Prybiloff Islands in Behring Sea ; its northern limits being apparently 

 determined by the southern border of the Polar floating ice. It was first discovered 

 in the year 1741, during Behring's first expedition, and was described by the 

 naturalist Steller, who accompanied that navigator. 



Mr. W. D. Elliot, writing of this species in the Prybiloff' Islands, 

 observes that it has a really leonine appearance and bearing, greatly 

 enhanced by the rich golden-rufous of its coat, and the ferocity of its expression. 

 Although provided with flippers, to all external view the same as in the fur-seal, it 

 cannot, however, make use of them in the same free manner. While the fur-seaj 

 can be driven five or six miles in twenty-four hours, the sea-lion can barely go two, 

 the conditions of weather and roadway being the same. The sea-lions balance ami 



