THE SEA BEAR. 



417 



among Seals, and will frequently relinquish their offspring in their haste to escape from their 

 human foes. The natives are in the habit of killing the !Sea Lions by poisoned arrows, or by 

 harpoons. As the wounded animal would be sufficiently strong to escape in spite of the har- 

 poons, the native hunters attach the harpoon-line to a post firmly planted in the ground, and 

 are thus enabled to delay the Sea Lion until they can inflict a fatal wound. 



They are marvellously blatant animals, keeping up a continual chorus of vociferations as 

 long as they are on land. The old males are the most noisy of the party, snorting discordantly, 

 and roaring like magnified lions. The females answer by loud bleatings, and the young of 

 both sexes add their voices in a less degree. The united cries of a large herd of Sea Lions are 

 so deafening, that human senses are almost stunned by the clangorous uproar. 



This species is said to feed upon fish and smaller Seals, being extremely dreaded by the 

 latter animals, and ruling supreme in its own domains. The teeth of the Sea Lion are very 

 singular in their shape and arrangement, the molars being furnished with sharp trenchant 

 points, some of the incisors double-headed, and others long and pointed like canine teeth. 



SEA BEAR, OR URSJNE SEAL.— Ardocephalws ursinus. 



As the mane-clad neck and shoulders of the preceding animal have earned for it the title of 

 Sea Lion, so the generally ursine aspect of the present species has gained the name of Sea Bear. 



It is not a very large animal, being hardly eight feet in length. As its limbs are larger 

 and better developed than in the generality of the Seals, it can stand and walk in a more active 

 manner than any of the preceding members of the phocine family. The color of its fur is very 

 pleasing, the long hairs being of a grayish-brown, while the thick soft wool that lies next to 

 the skin is reddish -brown. The fur is extremely soft and warm, and of high value as an article 

 of commerce. When it is dressed by the furriers, the entire coating of long hairs is removed, 

 the wool only being left adherent to the skin. Upon the neck and shoulders of the male 

 animal there is a kind of mane, composed of rather stiff hairs about two inches in length, and 

 of a grizzled aspect, the hairs themselves being jetty -black, and their tips white. The whole 

 of the fur is thick and long, and does not lie closely to the body. 



It is not so easily caught as the sea lion, for it is not only very active in the water, but can 

 proceed upon land with such rapidity that a man who wishes to overtake an affrighted Sea 

 Bear will be forced to exert his utmost speed before he can attain his object. 



The Sea Bears are found in great numbers about Kamtschatka and the Kurile islands, and 

 at the beginning of summer are so numerous as to blacken the banks on which they repose. 



