Tin: si:.\ I.K>N : AI;IM>.\N( i:. rnoi>. j 43 



in pulling this BMNtffepfa* of the I'rili.vlov Islands, apart from tin- Sea Lion common at San 1 i.in 

 cNcn ami Santa liarliara. as a distinct animal : and I call attention to tin- excellent description of 

 tin' California Sea Lion, made |>nl>lir in tin- April number for 1S7J of tin- Overland Monthly, by 

 (apt. < . M. Scaiiiiiion. in which the distinguishing characters, externally, of this animal are well 

 defined, and Ity which tin- difference, between the Eumetvfriait of Bering Sea anil that of the coast 

 it' ('iljfi)inia can at once he seen; and also I notice one more point in which the dissimilarity is 

 marked: the northern Sea Lion never barks or howls like the animal at the Farraloiic* [ait-] or 

 Santa liarliara. Young and old, both sexes, from one year and upward, have only a deep IHIMH 

 </ri>irl. and prolonged, steady roar f while at San Francisco Sea Lions break out incessantly with a 

 honking' l>ark or howl, and never roar. 



I am not to lie understood as saying that nil the Sea Lions met with on the California!! coast 

 are different from /,'. Stelleri of J5eriug Sea. I am well satistied that stragglers from the north are 

 down on the Farrallones, but they are not migrating back and forth every season ; and I am further- 

 more certain that not a single animal of the species most common at San Francisco was present 

 among those breeding on the Pribylov Islands in 187^-'73. 



According to the natives of Saint George, some fifty or sixty years ago the Eumetopin* held 

 almost exclusive possession of the island, being there in great numbers, some two or three hundred 

 thousand : and that, as tbe Fur Seals were barely |>ermitted to land by these animals, and in no 

 great number, the Russians directed them (the. natives) to hunt and worry the Sea Lions ciiV from 

 the island, and the result was that as the Sea Lions left, the Fur Seals came, so that to-day they occupy 

 nearly the same ground covered by the Eumetopian alone sixty years ago. This statement is, or 

 seems to he. corroborated by Ghoris, in his description of the lies S.-George's et S.-1'aul's [*te|, 

 visited by him fifty years ago; 1 but the account given by Bishop Veniamiuov, . . . differs 

 entirely from the above, for by it almost as many Fur Seals were taken on Saint George, during the 

 tirst years of occupation, as on Saint Paul, and never have been less than one-sixth of the number 

 on the larger island. ... I am strongly inclined to believe that the island of Saint George 

 never was resorted to in any great numbers by the Fur Seal, and that the Sea Lion was Uic dominant 

 animal there until disturbed and driven from its breeding-grounds by the people, who sought to 

 encourage the coming of its more valuable relative by so doing, and making room in this way for it. 



"The Sea Lion has but little value save to the natives, and is more prized on account of its 

 liesli and skin, by the people living upon the islands and similar positions, than it would be else- 

 where. The matter of its preservation and perpetuation should be left entirely to them, and it will 

 be well looked alter. It is singular that the fat of the Sea Lion should l>e so different in characters 

 of tasic and smell from that of the Fur Seal, being free from any taint of disagreeable flavor or 

 odor, while the blubber of the latter, although so closely related, is most repugnant. The flesh of 

 the Sea Lion cub is tender, juicy, light-colored, and slightly like veal; in my opinion, quite good. 

 As the animal grows older, the meat is dry, tough, and without flavor." 



i he food of the Sea Lion is well known to consist, like that of the other species of Eared 

 Seals, of lish. molhisks. and crustaceans, and occasionally birds. As shown by animals kept in 

 confinement, they require an enormous quantity. Captain Scammon states that the daily allow- 

 ance of a pair kept in Woodward's Gardens, San Francisco, amounted to forty or fifty pound* of 



fle-ll lish. 



"From fifteen to twenty thousand Si -a Lions," sa\s Captain Bryant, breed annually on the 

 I'ribylov or 1- ur Seal Islands. They do not leave the islands in winter, as do the Fur Seal>. to 

 return in spring, but remain during the whole year. They bring forth their young a month earlier 



ritt<irr>c|iii' .intinir iln Mmiilr. 



