SEA LIONS AND BLUE FOXES. 337 



SEA LION NECK. 



Sea Lion Keck is a rocky reef with a few harems on either side. At its tip are 3 

 huge sea-lion bulls. Five sea-lion cows are swimming in the water. One bull goes 

 in and one sits on a rock and looks at me. The third sleeps behind. One female lands. 

 Several pups are on the rocks and in the surf. The female sea lion seems larger than 

 the bull seal, but she is slimmer. The bull is immense, as large as a horse. The 

 females come near the shore to see the pups. These huge cream- white beasts are very 

 interesting. Eight more dead sea-lion pups are seen. There seems to be a very great 

 waste among them. The pups are far from the sea on the back of the reef. All are 

 rotting. One or two are emaciated; the rest not. Two or three are in the surf below 

 the high tide. I do not see more than 20 live pups on the rookery. Ten more are 

 near the rookery itself; with them are 1 male and 2 female sea lions. 



The mother sea lions seem alarmed, but ineffective. The living pups are now on 

 the rocks close to the water; some are in the water. But all of the dead ones lie on 

 a tract of ground discolored by excrement, evidently the original rookery. Pour 

 emaciated male pups are skinned and saved as specimens. Evidently, from the waste 

 of its pups, the Sivntch is not long for this earth. 



"The sandy beach below Walrus Bight is strewn with bones of whale, walrus, and 

 sea lions, seals and mighty animals. It makes one sick to see this evidence of waste 

 of splendid marine life. Why not let the walrus and sea lions alone? We shall never 

 see their like again. 



THE BLUB FOX. 



A little blue fox comes within a rod of me and circles about me as I stand still. 

 He is a jolly little knave. He goes twice around, each time a little nearer, the third 

 time coming near enough to snap several times at my shoe. I sit so as to prevent him 

 from grabbing my leg, which he would prefer, but dares not touch. He circles around 

 several times more, then lies down behind me, biting again at my shoe, which he finds 

 hard. When I move away and sit down he circles around again, and seemed pained 

 and disappointed when I finally leave. No other animal has such a cold, calculating, 

 selfish eye as the fox. 



North of Sea Lion Neck is a densely crowded mass of seals on a low slope strewn 

 with very large bowlders. It is full of quarreling bulls and surrounded by several 

 lines of idle buMs. It is a fine rookery which has evidently seen better days. It is 

 very hard to inspect, except around the edges. There are no cliff's, and an easy 

 descent leads to the reef of huge bowlders which constitutes the seashore. There is 

 a noble hauling ground around it. The ground is black with pups and mossy with 

 bull wigs above the brown cows. Five hundred square feet close by has 56 seals in 

 all; 12 cows, 2 bulls, and 42 pups — 9 feet each; but this is closer than the average. 

 This great patch is thicker behind and on the edges than on the middle. 



THE SKA LIONS. 



■ South of Sea Lion Neck 2 dead pups are seen in the sand among bachelors. 

 Three have been washed up on the beach, with 5 dead sea-lion pups. These are some 



