Chapter IV: Part 4

Cuvier established the genus _Ziphius_ in 1825, from a fossil skull found on the coast of Provence in 1804, which he believed at the time to belong to an extinct animal.

SOWERBY’S WHALE.

One more British Ziphioid is known, SOWERBY’S WHALE (_Mesoplodon sowerbiensis_, De Blainville); it was first described from a specimen which came ashore at Brodie, Elginshire, in 1800, and has since been found three times in Ireland; there is also a skull in the Museum of Science and Art at Edinburgh, which belonged to a specimen believed to have been captured somewhere on the Scotch coast; the remains of five others are preserved in various Continental museums.

Of the individual which came on shore on the coast of Kerry, in March, 1864, Mr. Andrews has given a description in the “Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy,” for April, 1867. Fortunately, it came under the notice of Dr. Busteed, of Castle Gregory, who being interested in zoology, and aware of the great importance of the occurrence, photographed the head in several positions while it was yet fresh: Dr. Busteed’s photographs were reproduced in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. The head had unfortunately been removed immediately behind the frontal portion of the skull, the base of which is lost, as are also the other parts of the skeleton. The total length of the animal was about fifteen feet, the two teeth largely developed and projecting like the tusks of a boar. On the under part of the throat the V-shaped furrow was very conspicuous. Sowerby’s specimen was coloured black above, and nearly white below. The skin was smooth like satin. “Immediately under the cuticle the sides were completely covered with white vermicular streaks in every direction, which at a little distance appeared like irregular cuts with a sharp instrument.”

_DELPHINIDÆ._

The remaining family, _Delphinidæ_, as before stated, is a very numerous one. It has ten representatives in the British fauna, contained in seven genera, the first of which, according to the arrangement I have adopted, is that of _Monodon_.

THE NARWHAL.

The NARWHAL (_Monodon monoceros_, Linn.) is a native of the Polar seas seldom leaving the ice; stragglers have occurred three times on the British coast, one in 1648 in the Firth of Forth, another came ashore alive at Boston, in 1800; the third was taken in Shetland in 1808.

This species is very numerous in the frozen seas to the north of latitude 65°, and is remarkable for the enormous development in the male of the left canine tooth, which is projected forward in the form of a tusk or spear, reaching to the length of six or eight feet, while the right tusk remains abortive, and does not pierce the alveolus. The spear is of fine compact ivory, hollow for the greater part of its length, grooved spirally from left to right, along its outer surface, the spiral generally making five or six turns, but smooth at the end, and bluntly pointed. Although the right canine is rarely developed, a few examples have occurred in which both tusks were present; the female is very rarely furnished with this appendage.

Mr. J. W. Clark, in a paper on a ‘Skeleton of Narwhal, with two fully-developed tusks,’[39] writes as follows:--“The skulls of the Toothed Whales are generally asymmetrical, being twisted more or less, usually towards the left. This peculiarity is especially observable in Monodon. One would expect it to be greatly exaggerated in the skulls of the males, where the left tusk alone is developed, and the left maxillary is, in consequence, very large, and the right proportionately small; but it does not seem to be affected by the absence or presence of the teeth. Female skulls, where neither tusk is developed, are equally twisted, and so are the bidental skulls ... the increased size of the right maxillary does not appear to affect the rest of the skull.”

Mr. Clark enumerates eleven skulls of the Narwhal in which both tusks are developed; four at Copenhagen, and one each in the museum of Hamburg, Christiania, Amsterdam, Weimar, Hull, Paris, and Cambridge; to these must be added a twelfth, which was brought from Prince Regent’s Inlet, by Capt. Gravill, of the “Camperdown,” and is now in the Dundee Museum.

Not long since I saw preserved in a country mansion, the tusk of a Narwhal measuring 7 ft. 5 in. long; it was carefully kept in a long case resembling a barber’s pole, and bore a ticket attached, which stated that it was “Bequeathed in 1561 by the Countess of ----, to her daughter ----.” No doubt at the time this formed a valuable bequest, as even royal and ecclesiastical dignitaries are said to have esteemed these strange objects (probably associated with the mythical unicorn), as “good against” poisons and fevers, and prized them accordingly. The use of this remarkable appendage appears very doubtful; it has been conjectured that it serves to stir up food from the bottom of the sea, in which case the female would be badly off without it; or that it is employed to keep breathing-holes open in the ice, and an instance is related in support of this view, in which hundreds were seen at an ice-hole protruding their heads to breathe, but it is not clear whether they made the hole for themselves, or whether they were attracted by it, particularly as there were numbers of White Whales with them. It seems certain, however, that the tusk, which is frequently found in a broken condition, is used for purposes of attack and defence. Like the horn of the stag, it is, no doubt, a sexual distinction.

The Narwhal is very social in its habits, great numbers being often met with together; its food consists of cuttlefish and crustaceans. The length of the full-grown animal is about 16 feet, the upper parts gray, the sides and belly white, and the whole animal spotted with black and gray. The only authentic figure of the Narwhal with which I am acquainted is that given by Scoresby; this is so well known from frequent reproduction that it is not necessary to give it here.

THE WHITE WHALE.

The WHITE WHALE, or BELUGA (_Delphinapterus leucas_, Pallas), like the preceding species, is a native of the Polar seas, where it is common; it is abundant in the White and Kara Seas, and in the Gulf of Obi; on the coast of Norway it is occasionally met with. From Scotland, five individuals have been recorded, but it must be regarded as only an accidental straggler. On the east coast of America it is found as far south as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where, as in the White Sea, it delights in ascending the mouths of large rivers.

No English examples have been met with, but, in the British Association Report on the Fauna of Devonshire (1869, pp. 84 and 85) occurs the following passage. “Mr. H. P. Gosse writes:--‘On August 5th, 1832, I was returning from Newfoundland to England, and was sailing up the British Channel close to the land, when, just off Berry Head, I saw under the ship’s bows a large cetacean of a milky white hue, but appearing slightly tinged with green from the intervening stratum of clear water. It was about 16 feet long, with a round bluff head. It continued to swim along before the vessel’s head, a few yards beneath the surface, for about ten minutes, maintaining our rate of speed, which was five knots an hour, all which time I enjoyed from the bow-sprit a very good view of it. It could have been no other than the White Whale, the _B. borealis_ of Lesson.’” Mr. Alston also states that Mr. J. G. Gordon informed him that in June, 1878, “he saw a large white cetacean, presumably of this species, in Loch Etive.”

In a communication to the Zoological Society of London,[40] quoting a letter from the Rev. Dr. Joass, of Golspie, Professor Flower thus describes the singular capture of one of these rare visitants to our seas:--“It was found close to the salmon-nets, near the Little Ferry, about three miles to the westward of Dunrobin, Sutherlandshire, at ebb tide, on Monday, June 9th, 1879, caught by the tail between two short posts, to which a stake-net was fastened; and a salmon, of 18 lbs. weight, which was supposed to have been the object of its pursuit, was found in front of it. It measured 12 ft. 6 in. in length. The tail was 34 inches across, and the flippers 17 inches long. It was a female [adult] and had twenty teeth in the upper jaw, and sixteen in the lower. the stomach contained a few flakes of fish, which, from their size and colour, might have been salmon.... I have heard since, that two days before its capture, it was seen off Cracaig by Brora fishermen, who were lying at their lines. At first they thought it was a human body; as it approached, _against the ebb_, they took it for a ghost!” On examining the skull of this specimen, Professor Flower discovered that, at some previous period of the animal’s existence, the atlas had been completely dislocated, “the whole of the surfaces, formerly in apposition, being now free from each other,” an injury to an aquatic animal as difficult to account for as it is to imagine the possibility of its surviving, but affording a remarkable instance of the creature’s recuperative power.

The Whales exhibited at the Westminster Aquarium, in September, 1877, and again in May, 1878, belonged to this species; unfortunately they did not live to equal in docility and intelligence a specimen exhibited in America, which “learned to recognize his keeper, and would allow himself to be handled by him, and at the proper time would come and put his head out of the water to receive the harness” by which he was attached to a car in which he drew a young lady round the tank,--or to take his food. A specimen of _Delphinus tursio_, which was for a time with him in the same tank, is said to have been even more docile than this remarkable animal.[41] The adult Beluga is pure white, and a “school” of these animals “leaping and playing in the calm, dark sea,” is said to be a very beautiful sight. In summer the Greenlanders kill great numbers, extracting the oil and drying the flesh for winter use; in Russia, the prepared skin is much used for reins or other parts of harness requiring great strength and lightness; in this country, too, under the name of porpoise-hide, it is now extensively used, and the salted skins sell for from 3s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. per lb. The whale-ship, “Arctic,” of Dundee, brought home 600 skins from Davis Strait, in the season of 1880. The length of the full-grown animal is about 16 ft., and its food consists of fishes, Crustacea, and Cephalapods.

THE GRAMPUS, OR KILLER.

The common GRAMPUS, or KILLER (_Orca gladiator_, Lacépède), (fig. 23) is a well-known and widely-dispersed species, being found in both the North Atlantic and Pacific Seas. Andrew Murray says “the common Grampus tumbles through the heavy waves all the way from Britain to Japan, _viâ_ the North-west Passage.” In the British seas it is frequently met with, and has occurred in several instances on the coast of Norfolk. This species is very fierce, its appetite insatiable, and carnivorous in the strictest sense of the word; to the Greenland and White Whale, as well as to Porpoises and Seals, it is an implacable enemy, and follows them ruthlessly. Dr. Brown says, “the White Whale and Seals often run ashore, in terror of this cetacean, and I have seen Seals spring out of the water when pursued by it. The whalers hate to see it, for its arrival is the signal for every Whale to leave that portion of the ice.” Eschricht took out of the stomach of a Killer, 21 ft. long, which came ashore in Jutland, no less than thirteen common porpoises and fourteen Seals.

The rounded, compact form of this species gives the idea of great strength and swiftness, and the beautifully-polished glossy black skin of the back contrasting with the equally pure and well-defined white of the lower parts has a very striking effect; over the eye there is a well-defined white spot. It is a very handsome species, but there is something in its appearance which seems to indicate its cruel nature. Thirteen or fourteen strong, slightly curved teeth are found on either side of both jaws; the flippers are broad and oval-shaped, the dorsal fin high and falcate, particularly in the male.

As my object is mainly that of assisting in the identification of casual visitants to our shores, rather than of giving anything like a history of the known British species of Cetacea, it may be desirable to mention here a very remarkable form, which, although it has never been known to occur in the flesh on our shores, was first made known to science from an imperfect skeleton found in a semi-fossil condition beneath the peat in a Lincolnshire Fen. To this Dolphin, “come back, as it were, from the dead,” and which forms a connecting link between the genus _Orca_ and the genera _Grampus_ and _Globicephalus_ (and which Owen had named _Phocœna crassidens_), Reinhardt gives the name of _Pseudorca crassidens_. On the 24th November, 1861, a large shoal of these dolphins made their appearance in the Bay of Kiel. The sailors succeeded in separating about thirty of them from the remainder, but all, with one exception, escaped. This was a female 16 feet long, which, after being exhibited at Kiel and other places, was bought for the Museum of the University of Kiel. In the summer of 1862, three other individuals, presumably from the same shoal, were thrown ashore on the north-western coast of Zealand. Of the general appearance of this creature the accompanying figure (24), copied, by kind permission, from Professor Flower’s translation of Reinhardt’s paper,[42] published by the Ray Society, will give an idea; the figure is from a photograph of the Kiel specimen, and is not in the original paper. The length is from 16 to 19 feet; of the colour no account is given, but, judging from the woodcut of the Kiel specimen, it appears to be uniformly shiny black. The number of teeth differs in individuals, but in this one it was from 9 to 10 on either side of the lower jaw, and 8 to 10 in the upper. From the observations made by Reinhardt, he suggests a possibility that there may be “a difference in the sizes of the different sexes, and whether the females are not larger, but at the same time, perhaps, provided with a head comparatively smaller than that of the males.” It is very suggestive of how little we know of the inhabitants of the sea, that at least one vast shoal of a species known only from its sub-fossil remains should be roaming the seas only to be accidentally discovered when its members became entangled in shallows from which probably many never lived to extricate themselves.

RISSO’S GRAMPUS.

RISSO’S DOLPHIN (_Grampus griseus_, G. Cuvier; _Grampus cuvieri_, Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist., 1846) is a rare and little-known species, which has been met with four times on the south coast of England, and about eight times in France. In the ‘Transactions’ of the Zoological Society, for 1871, Professor Flower gives an account of an adult female which was taken in a mackerel-net, near the Eddystone Lighthouse, on 28th February, 1870, and which eventually was sent up to London. About a month later, a second specimen was received in London, the precise locality of which was not known, but it was probably from somewhere in the Channel. This was also a female, but a very young animal, and as the adult female first taken had recently given birth to a young one, it is quite possible that it may have belonged to her. On the 26th July, a male of the same species was captured alive at Sidlesham, near Chichester, and sent to the Brighton Aquarium, where it lived for a few hours only.

Risso’s Dolphin varies very considerably in its colouration. The Sidlesham specimen was bluish-black above, and dirty white beneath; in the adult female described by Professor Flower (from whose illustration our figure is, with his permission, copied), “the head and the whole of the body anterior to the dorsal fin was of a lightish grey, variegated with patches of both darker and whiter hue.... Behind the anterior edge of the dorsal fin the general colour of the surface, including the dorsal and caudal fins, was nearly black, though with a large light patch on the upper part of the side directly above the pudendal orifice. The middle of the belly as far back as the pudendal orifice, was greyish white.”[43] The most remarkable characteristic, however, was the presence, scattered over the body, of irregular light streaks and spots; these markings extended from the head to within about two feet from the tail; and presented a most singular appearance. In the young one the upper parts and sides of the body were almost black, and the lower parts nearly white, the junction between the two colours being very abrupt and sharp. “On each side of the body were six vertical whitish stripes nearly symmetrically arranged, and almost equidistant, being about six inches apart. They did not extend quite to the middle line of the body above, and were lost below in the light colouring of the abdomen.”[44] The length of the Sidlesham male was 8 feet, that of the adult female 10 ft. 6 in.; in the former there were present four teeth on each side the lower jaw, in the latter three only on each side, and in the immature specimen there were present seven teeth, four on the right, and three on the left side; the teeth are always placed in the front part of the mandible, and in every specimen examined there has been an entire absence of teeth in the upper jaw. In general appearance, Risso’s Dolphin, more particularly the dark-coloured specimens, is said very much to resemble the next species (_Globicephalus melas_). Of its habits and distribution nothing positive is known, but from its visiting France and England in the spring or summer, M. Fischer concludes that this species “is migratory, visiting the shores of Europe in the summer, and passing in winter either to the south towards the coast of Africa, or to the west towards the American Continent.”[45]

THE PILOT WHALE.

The PILOT WHALE (_Globicephalus melas_, Trail; _Delphinus melas_, Trail; _D. globiceps_, Cuv.; _D. deductor_, Scoresby), known in Shetland as the Ca’ing or Driving Whale, is a frequent, although a very uncertain, visitor in British waters. It is met with, according to Lilljeborg, in the North Sea and northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, occasionally as far north as Greenland; off the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and on the North-west coast of Norway, it frequently makes its appearance; and it has been found on the British coast as far south as Cornwall. In Bell’s ‘British Quadrupeds’ it is said that it also appears to enter the Mediterranean. This species is pre-eminently gregarious, and generally occurs in large herds, often numbering several hundreds. So strong is their habit of association that they follow the leading Whale like a flock of sheep, a habit of which the Orkney and Shetland Islanders are fully aware, and avail themselves to the full. When a herd appears in one of the bays, boats immediately put off, and if possible, get to seaward of them, then gradually approaching, with shouts and splashes, they urge the whole herd shoreward, and are generally successful in driving a large number of Whales into shallow water; but should the leader break through the line of boats, the probability is that no efforts the boats’ crews can make will prevent all its companions following. Bell gives many instances of large numbers of these animals being taken, the last of which, quoted from the ‘Zoologist’ for 1846, is, perhaps, the most extraordinary. It is there stated, “on newspaper authority,” that 2,080 were taken in Faroe in the previous year within six weeks, and that 1,540 were killed _within two hours_ in Quendall Bay, Shetland, on the 22nd September, 1845.

As it too frequently happens that the unfortunate cetaceans which fall into the hands of the fishermen are simply hacked to pieces, and die only from exhaustion arising from loss of blood, it is worthy of remark that, according to Herr Collett, of Christiania, in Norway they are readily killed by a rifle shot, in the throat, or under the breast.

This species (fig. 26) is remarkable for its peculiarly rounded head,--hence its generic name; the flippers are long and pointed, the dorsal fin long and low; the teeth are about an inch in length, seldom all present in the adults, and the normal number, according to Bell, about twenty-four on either side each jaw; ten to twelve is, however, the more usual number present. The length of the adult is about nineteen or twenty feet, its colour glossy black, with the exception of a white stripe along the belly, which has a heart-shaped termination under the throat. Its favourite food is said to be cuttlefish. The figure is copied, with permission, from the ‘Transactions’ of the Zoological Society, vol. viii., pl. 30.

PORPOISE.

The COMMON PORPOISE (_Phocœna communis_, F. Cuv.; _Delphinus phocœna_, Linn.) is the best known of the Cetacea inhabiting the North Sea, being met with in abundance all round the British Isles, seldom occurring far from land, and often ascending large rivers for a considerable distance: it has been seen in the Thames as high as London Bridge.

Nothing can be more interesting than to watch a shoal of these animals at sea, sometimes tumbling and gambolling under the bows of the vessel which is passing rapidly through the water, with as much ease as if she were motionless, or chasing each other playfully round and round the ship as she lies becalmed, their white bellies glistening in the clear sea, and frequently, apparently out of pure mad delight, leaping completely out of the water, returning to their native element with a most determined header. But it is not till seen in the glass-sided tank of the aquarium that the beauty, and even poetry of motion of these animals can be fully appreciated; swimming along in a series of gentle curves, they just bring the blow-hole to the surface, breathe without stopping, and continue the curve, till in due course they reach the surface again. This is repeated for the whole length of their spacious tank, or is varied by unexpected eccentricities, all indescribably graceful. Under these favourable circumstances for observation it is also clearly seen that the horizontal tail is the propeller which gives the motion; the alternate upward and downward pressure of this organ against the water evidently producing the graceful mode of progression which is so difficult to describe, but so easily understood when witnessed. The flippers are not used as propellers. When the animal is moving forwards they are laid back, against the body; but when it wishes to stop, they are stretched out at right angles to it, so as to offer a resistance to the water, and so arrest the onward motion of the animal. All this, although perfectly understood in theory before, strikes the beholder as a new and beautiful sight when first viewed in practice, from a stand-point, on a level with the animal itself, and as it were in its own element.

The food of the Porpoise consists of fish, and it follows the shoals of herrings, &c., amongst which it commits great depredations; it has a taste for salmon, and is sometimes taken in the salmon-nets. The period of gestation is said to be six months, and it brings forth one young one at a birth; its colour is black on the back, shaded off to silver-grey on the belly, the whole skin beautifully smooth and polished. The teeth number about twenty-five on each side of either jaw, and are spatulate, with a contracted neck, unlike the usually conical teeth of the _Delphinidæ_. The length is four or five feet. The flesh of the Porpoise seems formerly to have been esteemed as an article of food, and is mentioned several times in the L’Estrange Household Book (1519 to 1578) and other similar records; it is said by one who has eaten it to be “excellent meat, dark in colour, and large in fibre, but of excellent flavour, very tender, and full of gravy.”

THE COMMON DOLPHIN.

The COMMON DOLPHIN (_Delphinus delphis_, Linn.), fig. 27, is not unfrequently met with in the seas surrounding the southern portion of the British Isles; but from the northern division of the kingdom, although it, doubtless, occasionally visits Scottish waters, there is no reliable record of its occurrence. This species, probably, often passes unrecognized. It may, however, be at once distinguished from the Porpoise by its attenuated beak, the head of the Porpoise being obtuse, and the beak altogether absent. It is a native of the temperate seas, and becomes scarcer as the north is approached. Van Beneden was not able to record it as frequenting the Belgian coast, but Lilljeborg says it is occasionally obtained on the coasts of Scandinavia, and Herr Collett has hardly any doubt that it occurs on the Norwegian coast as far north as Finmarken, and a large “school,” seen by Malmgren in April, 1861, in West-fjord, between the Loffoden Islands and the mainland, was referred by him, without hesitation, to this species. In Greenland it is said to be met with, but Professor Flower thinks it doubtful whether some species of an allied genus may not have been mistaken for it.

This is the true Dolphin of the Ancients, of which Professor Bell, in his ‘British Quadrupeds,’ says: “the mythological and poetical associations which belong to the Dolphin, its reputed attachment to mankind, its benevolent aid in cases of shipwreck, its dedication to the gods, and many other attributes expressive of the high estimation in which it was held in olden times, afford a striking example of how the unrestrained imagination of the ancients could raise the most gorgeous structures of poetry and religion upon the most slender basis.... It requires some stretch of the imagination to identify the round-headed creature which is represented in ancient coins and statues, with the straight sharp-beaked animal,” which is here figured. It is sad to destroy at one fell swoop all the romance which once surrounded this species; but Dr. Gray tells us that “the dying Dolphin’s changing hues” are not observed in a cetacean at all, but in a fish of the genus _Coryphæna_, which, although normally black, is stated by Mr. Couch (as quoted by Mr. Yarrell) to have changed to a fine blue whilst he was making a drawing of it. The food of the Dolphin consists of fish, cuttlefish, and crustaceans, and on the Cornish coast it makes its appearance in considerable numbers, according to Mr. Couch, in the month of September during the pilchard season. It is very social in its habits, and even more sportive in the water than its relative, the Porpoise. The illustration is copied from Reinhardt’s figure.

Professor Flower thus describes a specimen taken in March, 1879, Mevagessey: “Instead of being simply black above and white below, as usually described, the sides were shaded, mottled, and streaked with various tints of yellow and grey, ... the under surface was of the purest possible white; perfect symmetry was shown in the colouring and markings on the two sides of the body.”[46] There is, probably, much variation in the disposal of the colour; in a beautiful drawing, in my possession, made by Mr. Gatcombe from a specimen taken at Plymouth, the colour is so disposed as to show two graceful waving lines, crossing each other about the centre of the animal’s body, forming a figure somewhat like an elongated figure eight. The dental formulæ vary from 40/40 40/40 to 50/50 50/50, the numbers not always being equal, even on the different sides of the mouth of the same individual. The length is from 5 to 8 feet.

BOTTLE-NOSED DOLPHIN.

The BOTTLE-NOSED DOLPHIN (_Delphinus tursio_, Fab.; _Tursio truncatus_, Gray), fig. 28, appears to be found occasionally from the Mediterranean to the North Sea; it is by no means, however, a common species. Professor Flower says it “is rare in the Mediterranean, though Gervais gives several instances of its capture in the Gulf of Lyons. It probably has a more northern range than _D. delphis_; but, as in the case of that species, there is still much obscurity as to the exact limits of its distribution.”[47] A specimen was seen in January, 1873, in the fish-market at Algiers, by Mr. J. W. Clark, of Cambridge.

Of the habits of this species very little is known: its colour is black above, shaded to white below, and its length from 8 to 12 feet; teeth from 21 to 25 on either side of each jaw, truncated when old. The figure is from a drawing of a nearly adult male, taken at Holyhead, in October, 1868, for which I am indebted to the kindness of Professor Flower.

WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN.

The WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN (_Delphinus acutus_, J. E. Gray; _Lagenorhynchus acutus_, Gray, Zool. Erebus and Terror), is a rare species, which has occurred in a few instances on the British coast; it is said, however, by Dr. A. R. Duguid, often to be seen about the Orkney Islands, but rarely secured. Its colour is black above and white below, between which runs a broad band of yellowish brown, about the centre of which, and surrounded by it, is a large oblong patch of pure white. The adult measures from 6 to 8 feet in length. A figure and description, by Dr. Duguid, taken from one of a herd of twenty landed at Kirkwall, on the 21st August, 1858, will be found in the ‘Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist.’ (3rd series) for August, 1864, vol. xiv., p. 133.

WHITE-BEAKED DOLPHIN.

The last species on the British list, the WHITE-BEAKED DOLPHIN (_Delphinus albirostris_, J. E. Gray; _Lagenorhynchus albirostris_, J. E. Gray, Zool. Erebus and Terror), is also of rare occurrence: it is a native of the North Atlantic, has occurred at the Faroe Islands, and on the coasts of Norway and Sweden, and Denmark, also at Ostend, but little is known of its habits. A Dolphin of this species was killed at Hartlepool in 1834, but not recognized at the time: the skull is now in the Cambridge Museum. This species was, I believe, first described as British by Mr. Brightwell, under the name of _D. tursio_, from a specimen taken off Yarmouth, in 1846. His paper, with a figure from a drawing made by Miss Brightwell, will be found in the ‘Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,’ first series, January, 1846, vol. xvii, p. 21. Another specimen was shot by Mr. H. M. Upcher, near Cromer, and will be found recorded by Dr. Gray in the same Magazine, for April, 1866, vol. xvii., p. 312. A fourth, an adult male, 9 feet long, was taken at the mouth of the Dee, in December, 1862; and a fifth on the south coast, in 1871.

In September, 1875, a young female was taken off Grimsby, and in March, 1876, a young male was captured off Lowestoft. The first-named of these latter formed the subject of a communication to the Zoological Society of London, by Dr. Cunningham, of Edinburgh, and the latter of a subsequent notice, by Mr. J. W. Clark, of Cambridge. Both papers will be found printed in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society for 1876, p. 679, _et seq._, and figures of the two specimens are given on the same plate. On the 24th August, 1879, a young female, the skull of which is now in the Norfolk and Norwich Museum, was landed at Yarmouth, and on the 22nd March, 1880, another young female was also landed at the same place, the exact locality in which it was taken being uncertain. On the 7th September, 1880, a young male, the first recorded Scotch specimen, was taken on the east coast, near the Bell Rock, thus realising the belief, expressed shortly before (‘Mammalia of Scotland,’ _Nat. Hist. Soc. of Glasgow_, 1880, p. 23) by Mr. Alston, that it might be expected to occur in Scottish waters. The total length was 5 ft. 8 in.

Through the kindness of Mr. Clark, I am enabled to give a figure of the Lowestoft specimen. Mr. Clark’s figure differs considerably from Dr. Cunningham’s, both in outline and in the disposal of colour, being much more slender, and showing considerably less white; both, however, differ still more from Mr. Brightwell’s figure than they do from each other. A good figure of the adult animal is still a desideratum, that by Miss Brightwell being obviously incorrect. Mr. Clark’s specimen was glossy black on the upper part, and creamy white on the under; the upper lip white, with a black spot at the tip, and a few irregular pale grey cloudings on its surface; the coloration exceedingly beautiful, and such as no drawing could give an adequate idea of. The two last-named Yarmouth examples agreed very closely in all respects with Mr. Clark’s description. Mr. Brightwell’s specimen had the whole upper part and sides rich purple-black, the lips, throat, and belly cream-colour, varied by chalky-white. This specimen, an adult, measured 8 ft. 2 in. in length, Mr. Clark’s 5 ft. 5½ in., and Dr. Cunningham’s 4 ft. 2 in. Two others, also both young ones, measured respectively 4 ft. 3 in., and 5 ft. The teeth vary in number, but are about twenty-six on either side each jaw; in one specimen, carefully examined by the writer, they were 26/24 26/24, several of the front teeth not having pierced the gum.

In addition to those enumerated above, others are said to have occurred on the coast of Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and to have been seen off the Faroe Islands. It is singular that 5 of the 10 recorded British specimens should have been landed on the Norfolk coast.

This species concludes the short list of the twenty-two British Cetacea, of which I have endeavoured to give a popular, but I hope, at the same time, so far as it is at present known, a reliable account; my principal object, as I stated in my introductory remarks, being to induce those residing in suitable localities to take up the study of this interesting family, and to assist in the identification of those specimens which from time to time are cast upon our shores.

NOTE TO PAGE 77, RUDOLPHI’S RORQUAL (_Balænoptera laticeps_, J. E.
Gray).--Professor Flower, since the brief account of this animal at
p. 77 was printed, has called my attention to the undoubted priority
of Lesson’s name for this species, _Balænoptera borealis_, which was
founded upon Cuvier’s “Rorqual du Nord”; he also points out that Van
Beneden and Gervais follow Lesson in this respect, and says that in
future it is his intention to do the same. As it is most important
to establish an uniform nomenclature, I do not hesitate to follow
so distinguished an authority, and now wish to supply the omission
as far as it is possible to do so. The species will, doubtless,
henceforth be known as _Balænoptera borealis_, Lesson, Complément des
Œuvres de Buffon, Cetacés.

JARROLD AND SONS, PRINTERS, LONDON AND EXCHANGE STREETS, NORWICH.

Cloth, 6s.; or in Half Morocco, 10s. 6d.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE FAUNA OF NORFOLK,

AND MORE PARTICULARLY ON

THE DISTRICT OF THE BROADS.

BY

THE LATE REV. RICHARD LUBBOCK, M.A.,
_Rector of Eccles_.

NEW EDITION,
WITH ADDITIONS FROM UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS OF THE AUTHOR, AND NOTES BY
THOMAS SOUTHWELL, F.Z.S.,
_Hon. Sec. to the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society; Author of
“Seals & Whales of the British Seas_;”
ALSO A MEMOIR BY
HENRY STEVENSON, F.L.S.;
AND AN APPENDIX CONTAINING NOTES ON HAWKING IN NORFOLK BY
ALFRED NEWTON, M.A., F.R.S., &c.
AND ON THE DECOYS, REPTILES, SEA FISH, LEPIDOPTERA, AND BOTANY
OF THE COUNTY.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

“Lubbock’s volume, written five-and-thirty years ago, has long been
out of print and scarce; and the reliable nature of the information
which it affords has for some time rendered a new edition a
_desideratum_ with naturalists. A new edition has at length appeared,
edited by Mr. Thomas Southwell, of Norwich, who has made some
valuable additions of his own in the shape of notes on the existing
mammalia of Norfolk, and on decoys past and present in the county,
prefaced by a memoir of the author by Mr. Henry Stevenson, and
supplemented by some interesting notes on Hawking in Norfolk, from
the pen of Professor Newton.”--_The Field._

* * * * *

“In addition to the intrinsic merits of the book, of which we can
personally speak in the superlative degree as one of the most
pleasantly written of the many pleasant natural history books
our language is so rich in, describing, as it does, the ‘Broad
District’--a country unlike any other part of England, and a very
paradise to the botanist, entomologist, and ornithologist--this new
edition is edited by Mr. Thomas Southwell, the active Secretary of
the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, whose full and accurate
knowledge of the natural history of Norfolk better fits him for the
task than any other man we know of.”--_Science Gossip._

* * * * *

“While Mr. Lubbock’s personal observations were chiefly directed
to the neighbourhood of the Broads, the editor has endeavoured
to make the work as comprehensive in its scope as possible, and
he includes the district known as Lothingland, between Lowestoft
and Yarmouth, which, though in Suffolk, belongs geographically to
Norfolk.”--_Midland Naturalist._

* * * * *

“We promise to those who have never yet read this book, a rare treat
from its perusal.”--_Zoologist._

* * * * *

“We can scarcely speak too highly of the way in which this volume
has been ‘got up,’ and the publishers have added such a map as has
never yet been executed of this county, showing, as it does, not only
the rivers and broads, and other principal pieces of water, but the
sites of heronries and decoys (used or disused), gulleries, and other
localities, having a special interest for Naturalists.”--_Norfolk
Chronicle._

* * * * *

“The ‘Fauna’ is a book which everyone should read who desires to know
something of the natural history of Norfolk.”--_Norfolk News._

* * * * *

“Absolutely reliable and authoritative as a work of reference, and
invaluable to every naturalist and ornithologist.”--_Live Stock
Journal._

JARROLD AND SONS, 3, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, LONDON;
AND LONDON AND EXCHANGE STREETS, NORWICH.

_Large 8vo., Cloth Boards, Seven Shillings and Sixpence._

Rambles of a Naturalist

IN

EGYPT AND OTHER COUNTRIES,

WITH AN ANALYSIS OF THE CLAIMS OF CERTAIN
FOREIGN BIRDS TO BE CONSIDERED BRITISH, AND OTHER
ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES.

BY J. H. GURNEY, JUN., F.Z.S.

JARROLD AND SONS, 3, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, LONDON;
AND LONDON AND EXCHANGE STREETS, NORWICH.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Dr. Robert Brown on the ‘Seals of Greenland.’ Reprinted, with additions, in the ‘Manual and Instructions for the Arctic Expedition, 1875,’ from the _Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1868, pp. 405-440.

[2] _Land and Water_, August 26th, 1875.

[3] Dr. Brown’s ‘Seals of Greenland,’ _Proc. Zool. Soc._, June, 1868, reprinted in the ‘Arctic Manual,’ p. 67.

[4] ‘History of North American Pinnipeds,’ by Joel Asaph Allen. U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, Miscellaneous Publications, No. 12, Washington Government Printing Office, 1880.

[5] ‘Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland,’ pp. 32-34, as quoted by Allen, _l. c._, pp. 551-3.

[6] _Land and Water_, May 9th, 1874.

[7] Great diversity of opinion, however, exists upon this point, the Dundee sealers considering that the fishery should open a few days earlier, and that a time should be fixed for its closing, in order that too great a number of the old Seals may not be shot. The young Seals grow with great rapidity, and even a few hours make a marked difference in their condition; it seems, therefore, of the greatest importance that a time should be fixed for the opening of the fishery, which will ensure the young animals being in as forward a condition as possible, and that the nursing mother should be spared. It is said, also, that, in consequence of the number of females killed while nursing, the old dog Seals are vastly more numerous than the females, and that positive good is accomplished by some of them being killed off. One opinion, however, seems universal, which is, that not much good has resulted, at present, from the close time.

[8] The Seal of the Caspian Sea was described as a variety of _Ph. vitulina_, by Pallas, and as a distinct species, by Nilsson, under the name of _Ph. caspica_. It is, however, notwithstanding its abundance, very little known, and may, probably, prove to be more nearly allied to the next species. The yearly average of this species taken in for the six years ending 1872, as given by Schultz, is 130,000.

[9] _Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1868, p. 402.

[10] _Journal of Anatomy and Physiology_, 1870, p. 260.

[11] ‘Danish Greenland, its People and its Products,’ p. 123.

[12] ‘Mammalia of the Outer Hebrides,’ _Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasgow_, 1879, p. 95.

[13] _Ph. grœnlandica_ was the only Seal met with by the Austrian Arctic Expedition, in the _Tegethoff_ in August, 1873, the ship then drifting in the ice in lat. 79° 31′, long. 61° 43′. Subsequently both this species and _Ph. barbata_ were met with about North lat. 81°.

[14] ‘Seals of Greenland.’ Reprinted in ‘_Manual and Instructions for the Arctic Expedition_, 1875,’ p. 47.

[15] A communication in _Land and Water_ for Dec. 20, 1879, p. 524, signed “R. M.,” states that about the 20th of June, 1879, a Walrus was seen off the west coast of Skye. “He was seen lying on a rock near the shore, on a fine calm evening, near enough to remove all doubt as to the identity of the animal.... The huge tusks were quite easily distinguished.” On being disturbed, it is said to have rolled into the water, and swam a short distance to another rock, on which it was seen to climb; after a little time it again took to the water, and was seen no more. As no names are given, it is impossible to investigate this report, or to judge what degree of importance should be attached to it.

[16] Cook’s Last Voyage, vol. ii. p. 458, edition 1784.

[17] ‘Some remarks on the Nat. Hist. of Franz Josef Land,’ by H. W. Feilden, F.G.S., &c.--a Paper read before the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, Dec. 28, 1880.

[18] _Physalus_, _Benedenia_, and _Sibbaldius_, of Gray, are now rejected, I believe, by Prof. Flower.

[19] _Zoologist_, 1877, p. 360.

[20] McCulloch’s _Dictionary of Commerce_.

[21] Space will not permit of more than a passing reference here, but much information as to the rise and progress of the whale-fishery will be found in McCulloch’s ‘Dictionary of Commerce,’ article “Whale-fishery;” Scammon’s ‘Marine Mammals of the North-western coast of North America;’ Starbuck’s ‘History of the American Whale Fishery;’ Mr. C. R. Markham’s ‘The Threshold of the Unknown Region;’ Capt. A. H. Markham’s book above referred to; and above all in Scoresby’s excellent works, which have been extensively laid under contribution by nearly all subsequent writers--‘An Account of the Arctic Regions, with a History and Description of the Northern Whale-fishery’ (2 vols., 1820), and ‘A Journal of a Voyage to the Northern Whale-fishery,’ in 1822.

[22] Blackstone mentions a curious old feudal law, to the effect “that on the taking of a Whale on the coasts, which is a royal fish, it shall be divided between the king and queen; the head only being the king’s property, and the tail of it the queen’s. ‘_De Sturgione observetur, quod rex illum habebit integrum: de balena vero sufficit, si rex habeat caput, et regina caudam._’ The reason of this whimsical division, as assigned by our ancient records, was, to furnish the Queen’s wardrobe with whalebone”!--Blackstone’s ‘Commentaries,’ 1783 edit., vol. i., p. 223.

[23] Owen, ‘Anat. of Vert.,’ iii., pp. 546 and 553.

[24] Dr. Brown, in the paper before quoted, states that they couple from June to August, and bring forth in March or April. See also a note on ‘The Time and Manner of the Procreation of some Species of Whales,’ in the ‘Zoologist’ for 1845, p. 1161.

[25] ‘Recent Memoirs on the Cetacea, by Professors Eschricht, Reinhardt and Lilljeborg,’ edited by Prof. Flower, Ray Society, 1866.

[26] ‘Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.,’ 1878 (11), p. 495.

[27] ‘Bemærkninger til Norges Pattedyrfauna,’ p. 100. (Særskilt Afryk af ‘Nyt Mag. for Naturvsk’) 1876.

[28] ‘Arctic Voyages of Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld,’ 1858-1879, pp. 51-2.

[29] ‘Geographical Distribution of Mammalia,’ by Andrew Murray, 1866, p. 211.

[30] ‘Natural History of the Sperm Whale,’ p. 28.

[31] ‘Geographical Distribution of Mammalia,’ pp. 211-13.

[32] ‘Transactions’ of the Zoological Society, viii., p. 203.

[33] _Ibid._ x., p. 415.

[34] _Ibid._, p. 435.

[35] _Zoologist_, 1878, p. 319.

[36] Bell’s ‘Brit. Quad.’ p. 426.

[37] Collett, ‘Norges Pattedyrfauna,’ p. 99.

[38] ‘Zoology of H. M. S. Challenger,’ part iv., p. 29.

[39] _Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1871, pp. 41-53.

[40] _Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1879, pp. 667-9 (by which Society the above woodcut was kindly lent).

[41] Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3rd series, vol. 17, p. 312.

[42] Read before the Royal Danish Society of Sciences, in 1862.

[43] Trans. Zool. Soc., vol. viii, p. 3.

[44] _l. c._, p. 13.

[45] _l. c._, p. 18.

[46] _Trans. Zool. Soc._, vol. xi., p. 2, with plate.

[47] _Trans. Zool. Soc._, vol. xi., p. 5.

Transcriber note

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