166 MARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 



under way, and likewise when at anchor, appearing to- emerge deliberately from the 

 depths below, sometimes only showing their heads, at other times exposing half of 

 their bodies, but the instant any move was made on board, they would vanish like 

 an apparition under water, and frequently that would be the last seen of them, or, 

 if seen again, they would be far out of gun-shot. 



The animals come ashore more during windy weather than in calm, and in the 

 night more than during the day ; and they have been observed to collect in the 

 largest herds upon the beaches and rocks, near the full and change of the moon. 

 They delight in basking in the warm sunlight, and when no isolated rock or shore 

 is at hand, they will crawl upon any fragments of drift-wood that will float them. 

 Although gregarious, they do not herd in such large numbers as do nearly all others 

 of the seal tribe ; furthermore, they may be regarded almost as mutes, in compar- 

 ison with the noisy Sea Lions. It is very rarely, however, any sound is uttered 

 by them, but occasionally a quick bark or guttural whining, and sometimes a pecul- 

 iar bleating is heard when they are assembled together about the period of bring- 

 ing forth their young. At times, when a number meet in the neighborhood of 

 rocks or reefs distant from the main land, they become quite playful, and exhibit 

 much life in their gambols, leaping out of the water or circling around upon the 

 surface. 



Its terrestrial movements, however, are qrrite- difFereirt from those of the Sea 

 Lion, having a quick, shuffling, or hobbling gait, only using its pectorals to draw 

 itself along with, while a small portion of the animal's belly alternately rests upon 

 the ground, the posterior part of the body, inchiding the hind flippers, being turned 

 a little upward. The head and neck are slightly elevated, also, when the animal is 

 in its land -traveling attitude, but the creature is not so erect as, nor does it 

 present the imposing appearance of, the Sea Lion, in its habits upon the shore. 

 Its food is principally fish, and its rapacity in pursuing and devouring the smaller 

 members of the piscatory tribes is quite equal, in proportion to its size, to that 

 of the Orca. When grappling with a fish too large to be swallowed whole, it 

 will hold and handle it between its fore flippers, and, with the united work of its 

 mouth — which is armed with incisors, canines, and molars — the wriggling prize is 

 demolished and devoured as quickly, and much in the same manner, as a squirrel 

 would eat a bur -covered nut. 



The animal is easily tamed, and very soon becomes attached to its keeper. 

 We have had several young ones on board ship, and in every instance it was but 

 a few weeks before they would follow, if permitted, the one who had especial 

 charge of them, and when left solitary, they would express discontent by a sort of 



