132 MARINE 3IAMMAL8 OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 



Sea Lions of the California coast, there is but little attachment manifested between 

 the sexes ; indeed, much of the Turkish nature is apparent. But the females show 

 some affection for their offspring : yet, if alarmed when upon the land, they will 

 instantly desert them, and take to the water. The young cubs, on the other hand, 

 are the most fractious and savage little creatures imaginable, especially if awakened 

 from their nearly continuous sleeping ; and frequently, when a mother reclines to 

 nurse her single whelp, a swarm of others will perhaps contend for the same favor.* 

 To give a more extended and detailed account of the Sea Lions, we will 

 relate a brief sketch of a sealing season on Santa Barbara Island. It was near the 

 end of May, 1852, when we arrived ; and, soon after, the rookeries of "clapmatches," 

 which were scattered around the island, began to augment, and large numbers of 

 huge males made their appearance, belching forth sharp, ugly howls, and leaping 

 out of or darting through the water with surprising velocity ; frequently diving 

 outside the rollers, the next moment emerging from the crest of the foaming break- 



* It is positively asserted by the natives of 

 St. Paul's Island, Behring Sea, that the female 

 Sea Lion of that locality suckles the male pup 

 the second year. Special Agent Bryant, who 

 has passed several seasons upon this island, has 

 informed us that he has investigated the mat- 

 ter as far as practicable, and gives credit to the 

 assertion. There would seem to be nothing im- 

 probable about the young Sea Lion suckling the 

 second year, as the fact of yearlings of land 

 mammals doing likewise is fully established. 

 But whether the female Sea Lion, of a year's 

 growth, is denied the nourishment which is af- 

 forded to the male, would seem a critical ques- 

 tion ; yet, if such is the fact, this may account 

 for the great discrepancy of size between the 

 adult males and females. 



Although a digression from, yet in a sense 

 corroborative of, the habits imputed to the Sea 

 Lion, in nursing its young, we will mention 

 facts which have just come to our knowledge, 

 through the whalemen at Monterey Bay, Cali- 

 fornia, which present nearly a parallel case with 

 that of the Sea Lions. On the 1st of October, 

 1873, the whalers captured a cow whale of the 

 Humpback species; also a calf that was with 



her, which was judged to be about one year 

 old. That this yearling was the offspring of the 

 captured female, there can be no question, as 

 she followed close to the calf (which was first 

 harpooned) until it was nearly lifeless ; and when 

 the exhausted creature was about to expire, the 

 mother made an effort to support it by holding 

 it upon the surface of the water with her head. 

 These solicitous manifestations on the part of 

 the female are regarded as unquestionable evi- 

 dence, that the young whale in question was 

 her cherished offspring. As soon as it expired, 

 the mother turned to make her escape, but while 

 in this act, she was "harpooned" and "bomb- 

 ed," killing her almost instantly. Both whales 

 were towed to the station ; and when the calf 

 was cut in, it was found to be a male ; and on 

 flensing the mother, a well -grown foetus was 

 found in her, which proved, in this instance, 

 that the yearling whale not only follows its 

 dam, but during that period the mother asso- 

 ciates with the adult males, and again becomes 

 pregnant before separating from her former calf. 

 At the time of the capture of the two whales 

 above mentioned, an adult bull was in their 

 company, which was also captured. 



