THE SEA LION: ABUNDANCE, FOOD, &c. 43 



iu putting this JEumetopias of the Pribylov Islands, apart from the Sea Lion common at Sau Fran- 

 cisco and Santa Barbara, as a distinct animal ; and I call attention to the excellent description of 

 the California Sea Lion, made public in the April number for 1872 of the Overland Monthly, by 

 Capt. C. M. Scammon, in which the distinguishing characters, externally, of this animal are well 

 defined, and by which the difference between the Eumetopias of Bering Sea and that of the coast 

 of California can at once be seen; and also I notice one more ijoint in which the dissimilarity is 

 marked: the northern Sea Lion never barks or howls like the animal at the Farralones [sic] or 

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

 growl, and prolonged, steady roar ; while at San Pi-ancisco Sea Lions break out incessantly with a 

 'honking' bark or howl, and never roar. 



'' I am not to be understood as saying that all the Sea Lions met with on the Californian coast 

 are different from E. StelJeri of Bering Sea. I am well satisfied 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 1872-'73. 



"According to the natives of Saint George, some fifty or sixty years ago the Eumetopias held 

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

 thousand ; and that, as the Fur Seals were barely permitted to land by these animals, and in no 

 great number, the Russians directed them (the natives) to hunt and worry the Sea Lions off 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 Eumetopias alone sixty years ago. This statement is, or 

 seenjs to be, corroborated by Ohoris, in his description of the lies S. -George's et S.-Paul's [sic], 

 visited by him fifty years ago;' but the account given by Bishop Yeniaminov, . . . differs 

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

 first 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 the 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 

 flesh 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 after. It is singular that the fat of the Sea Lion should be so different in characters 

 of taste 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 A'eal; in my opinion, quite good. 

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



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

 Seals, of fish, mollusks, 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 pounds of 

 fresh fish. 



"From fifteen to twenty thousand Sea Lions," says Captain Bryant, "breed annually on the 

 Pribylov or i'ur Seal Islands. They do not leave the islands in winter, as do the Fur Seals, to 

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



' Voyage Pittoresquo autour dii Monde. 



