12 
WARD’S NATURAL SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
In June and July some of the Sea Lions 
were considerably lighter in color than that indi- 
cated by Messrs Allen, Elliott and Scammon, in 
their respective works. One that I shot appeared 
to be pure white, but upon a closer examination 
proved to be of a very light cream color. Per- 
haps earlier and later in the season the color may 
be darker. The underparts were in all cases 
dark — shading from chocolate to bluish black. 
The hair of the Sea Lion is coarse and stiff, 
gradually increasing in length from the posterior 
to the back of the neck, where it reaches its 
greatest length of from 1£ to If inches. The 
skin here is also much thicker than upon other 
parts of the body; a fresh skin, freed from fatty 
matter, measuring 1£ inches in thickness. This 
increase in length of hair and thickness of skin 
gives the animal somewhat the appearance of 
having a mane. The hair on the back and chest 
is often curved, so that its tips are directed for- 
ward; this is particularly noticeable among some 
of the females. 
The eye is of medium size, though usually 
appearing small on account of being partially 
closed. Iris light brown, sometimes with a blu- 
ish tinge; sclerotic coat showing plainly at cor- 
ners, often “blood shot,” and occasionally seen 
entirely surrounding the iris. 
The Sea Lion out of water is a very unwieldy 
brute; unless excited by fear or anger its move- 
ments are heavy and deliberate, usually accom- 
panied by grunts or roars as if the least move- 
ment required great exertion. 
It delights to bask in the sun, lying sprawled 
at full length upon the rock, occasionally raising 
its head to growl at some intruder or to indulge 
in its constant scratching. I have found no 
parasites on them, but probably they have them, 
else they would not scratch themselves so much. 
However, be this as it may, the Sea Lion 
is never contented with any position it may 
have taken, but needs keep continually shifting 
its attitude from that of lying down to raising 
up, throwing its head backward with its nose 
over the middle of its back, and pointed directly 
upwards; it is always searching for softer rocks, 
trampling over those in its way, causing a ter- 
rific roaring among the whole rookery, and a 
series of miscellaneous free-for-all fights. When 
lying upon a sloping rock, the Sea Lion, contrary 
to all laws of gravitation, not uncommonly 
twists its posterior parts in such a manner that 
both feet are turned up hill; a position, I learned 
to my sorrow, so unstable that the relaxation of 
the muscles following the severing by a bullet 
of the cervical portion of the spinal chord, allows 
the hind quarters to slowly roll over, carrying 
the rest of the carcass with it, until the animal, 
rolling like a barrel, plunges into the sea and 
instantly sinks. 
The principal amusement of these Seals is 
fighting, and is indulged in continually and upon 
all occasions. No insult or injury is too slight 
to be resented by a fight. Their canines are 
long and sharp, the muscles of the jaw and neck 
very powerful; so the wounds inflicted are often 
very serious. One large old male that I found 
alone had evidently been badly worsted in a 
pitched battle with some more lusty rival; three 
of his flippers had every phalanx in them 
crushed, his caudal vertebrae wefe badly dam- 
aged, and the tail nearly severed; one eye had 
been put out, the side of his head badly mangled, 
and all over bis neck and back were great scars, 
some of them a foot long, three or four inches 
wide and an inch and a half to two inches deep; 
his sores were all festering, yet he paid no atten- 
tion to them. 
Two adult males seldom get near each other 
without indulging in a fight more or less severe. 
As soon as they get within ten or fifteen feet of 
each other they begin to roar and swing their 
ponderous heads and necks from side to side; 
then they waddle forward a pace, stop and roar 
again, rarely glancing at each other, but looking 
off over the water as though disgusted with the 
whole procedure; at length they get within 
reaching distance, turn their heads aside and 
indulge in a long, last, lingering roar — and then 
the battle opens. Thrust after thrust is made 
by the antagonists, their jaws snapping like steel 
traps; blow after blow is parried with their muz- 
zles, their teeth meeting with a noise heard for a 
hundred yards above the noise of the sea; the 
teeth of one that succeeds in fastening them into 
the flesh of his opponent have to be literally 
torn from the flesh before they separate; and so 
they keep at it until one or the other turns tail 
and flees, the victor seldom pursuing the van- 
quished, and never for more than a few yards. 
The Sea Lion’s gait is usually a slow, lumber- 
ing waddle, the head and neck swayed from side 
to side at each step; but when in great haste they 
can gallop for a short distance, going nearly as 
fast as a man can run. 
In climbing rocks they reach forward with 
their forward flippers, slowly haul themselves up 
as far as possible, brace the body with the feet, 
and' again get a higher hold with the fore 
flipper — thus working themselves forward after 
the manner of an “ inch worm.” 
Their visual powers seem very slight, not ap- 
pearing to notice a person 150 yards away; but 
this defect of sight is partially made up by acute 
olfactory powers, for if the wind be right they 
take alarm when the hunter or observer is 700 
yards or more away. 
In the water the Sea Lion is far from clumsy, 
easily maintaining a speed of 8 to 10 miles per 
hour, and sometimes swimming at from 13 to 15 
miles. Much of the time while swimming they 
are under water, only coming to the surface 
when necessary to breathe. They have much 
ease and grace in the water, and seem to delight 
in diving or rolling about. I have seen a good- 
sized one jump clear out of the water, diving 
back head first like a porpoise. 
The female and young appear quite affection- 
ate; when swimming often raising close beside 
each other and holding their muzzles together as 
though kissing, diving again, and upon coming 
up to repeat the operation. 
There are also several instances on record 
where the female has defended her young against 
the attack of man, driving the sealers from the 
rocks by savage charges. 
In the water only does the Sea Lion seek to 
gratify his curiosity concerning man, often fol- 
lowing close astern of a boat for a mile or more, 
rising sometimes within 6 or 8 yards, rearing his 
head high out of water and taking a thorough 
survey of the occupants; but the least movement 
on the part of the boatmen sends him down 
again in great alarm. 
Their food consists largely, if not entirely of 
fish, of which they devour an immense num- 
ber. I have examined the contents of the 
stomachs of several, finding in all of them from 
4 to 10 quarts of fish bones. They are reported 
to occasionally catch sea-birds, which they decoy 
by bringing merely the tip of the nose to the 
surface of the sea and giving it a slight rotary 
motion, until some sea birds, attracled by cu- 
riosity, comes sufficiently near for the Sea Lion 
to spring and catch it. 
They have a curious habit of taking stones 
into their stomachs. I have been told that this 
is quite a common habit of theirs before finally 
leaving their Southern rookeries. 
I found in one an irregular, flat, oval piece of 
granite, 7\ inches in the greater, and 5 inches 
in the smaller diameter, 2 inches in thickest part. 
What the object could be of a carniverous ani- 
mal swallowing such a stone is to me a mystery. 
My assistant, a sailor, said that it was for “bal- 
last.” 
Hunting Sea Lions is more exciting on account 
of necessary boating through surf, strong shore 
currents, and among an innumerable number of 
rocks and reefs, submerged and awash than on 
account of the shooting itself. Once on a rock, 
with the wind right and Sea Lions out of sight 
on the other side, one is almost sure to get a Lion 
if he only keeps cool and is a good shot. They 
must be shot through the spinal chord near the 
brain, or through the brain itself. 
Hunting, however, for any particular animal, 
is a different matter; it took a whole week, after 
“spotting” my largest one before I could get a 
shot at him. 
Many Sea Lions are killed for their oil, hides, 
whiskers, testicles and penes, the three latter 
products being in great demand among the Chi- 
nese, who use the whiskers for toothpicks, the 
others for medicine. They are very heavy, un- 
wieldy brutes to skin and the hide difficult of pres- | 
ervation, requiring much attention and calling 
largely on one’s stock of patience. A person es- 
tablishing a camp on the coast must expect to 
undergo many disagreeable things, such as living 
on alkali water, being unmercifully pestered with 
fleas, and having little black and white odorifer- 
ous animals persistently infringe on the sanctity of 
his tent and bed. Three times I moved all of 
my paraphernalia from my tent, took up the 
driftwood floor and had a final reckoning with 
these animals; five skunks succumbed to my 
Winchester, but still they came. 
Coyotes and raccoons diligently sought for 
specimens to destroy; dense and almost con- 
tinual fogs added greatly to the care and expense 
of collecting; and heavy weather did much to 
retard matters; but still by hard work I managed 
to bring back six fine skins and eight skeletons, 
besides other miscellaneous collection among the 
Pinnipeds, Carnivores, Ungulates, Aves and In- 
vertebrates. 
A person would find little pleasure in such a 
camp unless fond of studying Natural History 
from life, and in sympathy with Byron when he 
says: 
“And I have loved thee, Ocean ! and my joy 
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be 
Borne, like thy bubbles, onward : from a boy 
I wantoned with thy breakers, — they to me 
Were a delight ; and if the freshening sea 
Made them a terror,— ’twas a pleasing fear, 
For I was as it were a child of thee, 
And trusted to thy billows far and near, 
And laid my hand upon thy mane, — as I do here.” 
HENRY L. WARD. 
WALRUS HUNTING. 
We have been unusually fortunate during the 
past few years in having secured a large number 
of Walruses from the Polar regions of both the 
Northern Atlantic and the Northern Pacific. Of 
the former —Odobaenus I'osmarus , — we have had 
eight individuals, both male, female and young; 
and of the latter — Odobaenus obesus , — we have 
had six, of which all but two individuals were 
adult, with long, robust tusks. In an old black 
letter volume — De animalibus, &c., — by Albertus 
Magnus, who died in 1280, and who in his life- 
time wrote much on the sciences (then so-called) 
and on Nature, in expounding Aristotle, we find 
what is probably the earliest description of the 
Walrus and of Walrus hunting. He tells us that 
“the Walrus climbs out of the water to sleep on 
the side of steep precipices. Hither comes the 
cruel hunter, and while the huge sleeping animal 
hangs by its tusks to a cleft of the rock, he cuts 
out a slip of its skin and fastens to it a strong 
rope whose other end is tied to trees, posts, or 
some projecting rock. The Walrus is then 
awakened by throwing large stones at its head. 
In its attempts to escape it leaves its hide behind. 
It perishes soon after or is thrown up half dead 
upon the beach.” Our own specimens have been 
caught in a different manner, and in their mount- 
ing we have not wholly copied the picture given 
above, which is the illustration given to the ar- 
ticle above mentioned of the learned Albertus 
Magnus. 
From Greece we have received some beautiful 
green Smithsonites (as well as other colors) which 
we can sell for $1 and $2 per specimen. And 
from the same locality have the delicate Flos 
Ferri for from $1 and $2 to $10, and upwards. 
This beautiful coralloid form of Aragonite re- 
ceived its name (Flower of iron) from its mode 
of occurence in iron mines. 
