Book III.INHABITANTS OF THE WATER.

THE SWAN. (Cygnus olor.)

“Fair is the Swan, whose majesty prevailingO’er breezeless water, on Locarno’s lake,Bears him on, while, proudly sailing,He leaves behind a moon-illumined wake:Behold! the mantling spirit of reserveFashions his neck into a goodly curve—An arch thrown back between luxuriant wingsOf whitest garniture, like fir-tree boughs.To which, on some unruffled morning, clingsA flaky weight of winter’s purest snows!Behold! as with a gushing impulse heavesThat snowy prow, and softly cleavesThe mirror of the crystal flood;Vanish inverted hill, and shadowy wood,And pendent rocks, where’er in gliding stateWinds the mute creature, without visible mateOr rival, save the queen of night,Showering down a silver lightFrom heaven upon her chosen favourite!”Wordsworth.

Thetwo best known species of this elegantly-formed and majestic bird are commonly known as the Wild andthe Tame, or the Whooping and Mute, Swans. They may easily be recognised by the peculiarities of the bill: the Tame Swan has the bill orange-coloured, with its base black, and surmounted by a black knob; the Wild Swan has no knob, and it is the tip instead of the base of the bill that is black.

THE WILD SWAN, WHOOPING SWAN, OR WHISTLING SWAN, (Cygnus ferus,)

Isalso a fine bird, with beautifully white plumage; unlike the Tame Swan, which is nearly mute, it has a loud and rather melodious voice, which it utters frequently, as it flies along at a great height in the air, during its migrations. It is found in England in the winter, but resides all the year in the north of Scotland. Its favourite place for breeding is in the extreme north. The Tame Swan is the largest of our web-footed water-fowl, sometimes weighing about thirty pounds: the whole body of the full-grown Swan is covered with a beautiful pure white plumage, but the young ones are grey; under the feathers is a thick, soft down, whichis of very great use, and often employed as an ornament. The elegance of form which this bird displays, when, with his arched neck and half-displayed wings, he sails along the crystal surface of a tranquil stream, which reflects, as he passes, the snowy beauty of his dress, is worthy of admiration. Thomson describes the Swan in the following beautiful manner:

“—— —— —— The stately sailing SwanGives out his snowy plumage to the gale,And arching proud his neck, with oary feet,Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier isle,Protective of his young.”

Swans have for ages been protected on the river Thames as royal property; and it continues at this day to be accounted felony to steal their eggs: by this means their increase is secured, and they prove a delightful ornament to that noble river. Latham says the estimation in which they were held, in the reign of Edward IV., was such, that only those who possessed a freehold of the clear yearly value of five marks were permitted even to keep any. In those times, hardly a piece of water was left unoccupied by these birds, as they gratified the palate as well as the eye of their lordly owners of that period: but the fashion of those days has passed away, and Swans are by no means as common now as they were formerly, being by most people accounted a coarse kind of food, and consequently held in little estimation: but the Cygnets (so the young Swans are called) are still fattened for the table, and are sold very high, commonly for a guinea each, and sometimes more; hence it may be presumed they are better food than is generally imagined.

At Abbotsbury there was generally a noble Swannery, the property of the Earl of Ilchester, where six or seven hundred birds were kept, but the collection has of late been much diminished. The Swannery belonged anciently to the abbot, and, previously to the dissolution of monasteries, the Swans frequently amounted to double the above number.

From the whiteness of this bird, the expression of a“Black Swan” was used in ancient times as equivalent to a nonentity; but a species nearly entirely black has been lately discovered in Australia. This bird is as large as the white Swan, and its bill is of a rich scarlet. The whole plumage (except the primaries and secondaries, which are white) is of the most intense black.

Swans are very long lived, sometimes attaining the great age of a century and a half.

THE WILD GOOSE. (Anser ferus.)

“The farmer’s Goose, who in the stubbleHas fed without restraint or trouble,Grown fat with corn, and sitting still,Can scarce get o’er the barn-door sill;And hardly waddles forth to coolHer body in the neighbouring pool;Nor loudly cackles at the door,For cackling shows the Goose is poor.”Swift.

The Gooseis very different in outward appearance from the last-named bird. Stupidity in her look, uncouthness in her walk, and heaviness in her flight are her principal characteristics. But why should we dwell upon these defects? they are not such in the great scale of the creation. Her flesh feeds many, and is not disdained even by the great; her feathers keep us warm;and even the very pen I hold in my hand was plucked from her wing.

These birds are kept in vast quantities in the fens of Lincolnshire; several persons there having as many as a thousand breeders. They breed in general only once a year, but if well kept they sometimes hatch twice in a season. During their sitting, the birds have spaces allotted to each, in rows of wicker pens placed one above another; and the Goose-herd, who has the care of them, drives the whole flock to water twice a day, and bringing them back to their habitations, places every bird (without missing one) in its own nest. It is scarcely credible what numbers of Geese are driven from the distant counties to London for sale, frequently two or three thousand in a drove; and, in the year 1783, one drove passed through Chelmsford, in its way from Suffolk to London, that contained more than nine thousand. However simple in appearance or awkward in gesture the Goose may be, it is not without many marks of sentiment and understanding. The courage with which it protects its offspring and defends itself against ravenous birds, and certain instances of attachment, and even of gratitude, which have been observed in it, render our general contempt of the Goose ill-founded.

The Goose was held in great veneration among the Romans, as having by her watchfulness saved the Capitol from the attack of the Gauls. Virgil says, in the seventh book of the Æneid,

“The silver goose before the shining gateThere flew, and by her cackle saved the state.”Dryden.

The colour of this useful bird is generally white; though we often find them of a mixture of white, grey, black, and sometimes yellow. The feet which are palmated, are orange-coloured, and the beak is serrated. The male of the Goose is called the Gander; and the young ones Goslings. Geese are very long-lived, one is known to have lived above seventy years.

The Wild Goose is the original of the tame one, and differs much in colour from her, the general tint of its feathers being a greyish black. Wild Geese fly by nightin large flocks to more southern countries; and their clang is heard from the regions of the clouds, although the birds are out of sight.

THE DUCK. (Anas boschas.)

The common Duckis of two kinds, the wild and the tame, the latter being but the same species altered by domestication; the difference between them is very trifling, save that the colour of the Mallard, or male wild Duck, is constantly the same in all the individuals, whereas the Drakes, or tame ones, are varied in their plumage. The females do not share with the males in beauty of plumage: the admirable scarf of glossy green and blue, which surrounds the neck of Drakes and Mallards, being an exclusive prerogative of the male sex. There is also a curious and invariable peculiarity belonging to the males, which consists of a few curled feathers rising upon the rump.

Wild Ducks are caught by decoys in the fen countries, and in such prodigious numbers, that in only ten decoys in the neighbourhood of Wainfleet, as many as thirty-one thousand two hundred have been caught in one season. They do not always build their nests close to the water, but often at a considerable distance from it; in which case the female will take the young ones in her beak, or between her legs, to the water. They have sometimes been known to lay their eggs in a high tree, in a deserted magpie’s or crow’s nest; and an instance has been recorded of one being found at Etchingham, in Sussex, sitting upon nine eggs in an oak, at the height of twenty-five feet from the ground: the eggs were supported by some small twigs laid cross-ways.

The tame Ducks, reared about mills and rivers, or wherever there is a sufficient quantity of water for them to indulge their sports and to search for food, become a branch of trade, which proves very profitable to their owners.

THE EIDER DUCK, (Sornateria mollissima,)

Whichis found about the coasts of the north of Englandand Scotland, becomes more numerous as we go further north, and is most abundant on Iceland and the Arctic shores, both of Europe and America. This bird is particularly valuable for the great quantity of down which it furnishes, as this is so light and elastic that beds and quilts made from it are preferable to any others. The birds line their nests with this beautiful material plucked from their own bodies, and it is chiefly by plundering the nests that the down is obtained. Each nest will furnish about half a pound of down in the season, and it is worth about four dollars a pound.

THE WIDGEON, (Mareca Penelope,)

Weighsabout twenty-two ounces, and feeds upon grass and roots growing at the bottom of lakes, rivers, and ponds. The plumage of this bird is much variegated, and its flesh esteemed a great delicacy, though not so highly praised as that of the teal. The bill of the Widgeon is black; the head and upper part of the neck of a bright bay; the back and sides under the wing waved with black and white; the breast purple; the lower part of the body white, and the legs are dusky. The young of both sexes are grey, and continue in this plain garb till the month of February; after which a change takes place, and the plumage of the male begins to assume its rich colourings, in which, it is said, he continues till the end of July; and then again thefeathers become dark and grey, so that he is hardly to be distinguished from the female.

Widgeons commonly fly in small flocks during the night, and may be known from other birds by their whistling note, while they are on the wing. They quit the desert morasses of the north on the approach of winter, and as they advance towards the ends of their destined southern journey, they spread themselves along the shores, and over the marshes and lakes, in various parts of the continent, as well as those of the British isles; and it is said that some of the flocks advance as far south as Egypt.

The Widgeon is easily domesticated in places where there is plenty of water, and is much admired for its beauty, sprightly look, and busy, frolicsome manners; yet it is generally asserted that they will not breed in confinement, or at least that the female will not make a nest and perform the act of incubation; but that she will lay eggs, which are generally dropped into the water.

THE TEAL, (Querquedula crecca,)

Isthe least of the duck tribe, weighing only twelve ounces. The lower part of the body is of a dingy white, inclining to a grey tint. The back and sides under the wings are curiously varied with lines of white and black; the wings are all over brown, and the tail of the same colour. This bird is common in England during the winter months, and it is still uncertain whether it does not breed here as it does in France. Dr. Heysham says it is known to breed in the neighbourhood of Carlisle. The female makes her nest of reeds interwoven withgrass; and, as it is reported, places it among the rushes, in order that it may rise and fall with the water. Their eggs are of the size of those of a pigeon, six or seven in number, and of a dull white colour, marked with small brownish spots; but it appears that they sometimes lay ten or twelve eggs, for Buffon remarks that that number of young are seen in clusters on the pools, feeding on cresses, chervil, and some other weeds, as well as upon seeds and small insects that swarm in the water. The flesh of the Teal is a great delicacy in the winter season, and has less of the fishy flavour than any of the wild duck kind. It is known to breed and remain throughout the year in various temperate climates of the world, and is in the summer met with as far northward as Iceland.

The Gulls, of which there are a great many different kinds, are very common birds around our coasts and at the mouths of rivers; they have long wings, and fly with great rapidity and buoyancy. Their plumage is thick, and they float very lightly on the surface of the water, but do not dive. The Gulls are very voracious, and not only devour great quantities of fishes, shell-fish, and other marine animals, but even condescend to feed upon the dead bodies of animals which they find floating on the water or cast up on the shore. Some of the smaller kinds come inland, and catch insects on the wing, in the same way as the Swallows.

The Common Gull is rather a large species, being more than eighteen inches in length when full grown. Its plumage is pearly grey above and white beneath; the largest wing feathers are black, with white tips and white spots near the tip; and the bill and feet are greenish grey. This bird breeds in the salt marshes or on the ledges of cliffs. The female lays two or three eggs, which are olive brown, with dark brown and black spots.

It is a very pretty sight to watch from the top of a lofty cliff the multitudes of these birds that often hauntour coasts; gliding with beautiful ease and swiftness through the air, skimming the surface of the water in pursuit of their prey, or reposing upon its bosom. Even their rather harsh and discordant cry is in harmony with the wild and imposing heights on which they love to dwell. This, however, does not protect them from the frequenters of our seaside towns, with whom seagull shooting is a favourite amusement; an amusement the more to be reprehended as the flesh of the bird is quite useless.

Gulls are frequently caught alive, and, after having their wings clipped to prevent their escape, are kept to satisfy their voracious appetite on snails, slugs, and other garden pests.

THE STORMY PETREL, OR MOTHER CARY’S CHICKEN. (Thalassidroma pelagica.)

“O’er the deep! o’er the deep!Where the whale, and the shark, and the sword-fish sleep,Outflying the blast and the driving rain,The petrel telleth her tale in vain;For the mariner curseth the warning bird,Who bringeth him news of the storm unheard!Oh! thus does the prophet, of good or ill,Meet hate from creatures he serveth still;Yet he ne’er falters:—So, Petrel! springOnce more o’er the waves on thy stormy wing.”Procter.

The Stormy Petrelis not larger than a swallow; and itscolour is entirely black, except the coverts of the tail, the tail itself, and the vent-feathers, which are white: its legs are slender. Ranging over the expanse of the ocean, and frequently at a vast distance from the land, this bird is able to brave the utmost fury of the storms. Even in the most tempestuous weather it is frequently observed by the mariners skimming with almost incredible velocity along the billows, and sometimes over their summits. They often follow vessels in great flocks, to pick up anything that is thrown overboard; but their appearance is looked upon by the sailors as the sure presage of stormy weather in the course of a few hours. It seems to seek protection from the fury of the wind in the wake of the vessels; and it is probable that for the same reason it often flies between two surges. The nest of this bird is found in the Orkney Islands, under loose stones, in the months of June and July. It lives chiefly on small fish; and although mute by day, it is very clamorous by night. The young of this bird are fed with an oily matter or chyle, which is ejected from the stomachs of the parents.

Mudie, in his very entertaining work on British Birds, says that they are called Petrels, or “little Petrels,” because they move along the surface as if they were literally walking on the water. He also informs us that they are at times very full of oil, and that the Faroese, taking advantage of this circumstance, convert them into lamps, by fixing them in an upright position and drawing a wick through their bodies, which they light at the mouth.

THE FULMAR, (Procellaria glacialis,)

Isa larger kind of Petrel, which is found not uncommonly on the British coasts, and is exceeding abundant in the Arctic seas. Here it is a regular attendant upon the whale-fishers when they are engaged in cutting up a whale. Any fragments of blubber that happen to fall into the water are immediately snapped by these greedy birds, which clamour and squabble over the feast with so little regard to the vicinity of the sailors, that they may be knocked on the head with a boat-hook. They are in high estimation in the countries they inhabit, on account of the large amount of oil they contain. It is only rarely they are seen in England, nor do they regularly frequent any part of Great Britain, except a few of the northernmost islands of Scotland. Like the other Petrels, they feed their young with a sort of oil, which they have the power of exuding at will.

Alsoresembles the diminutive Petrels in some respects; but instead of being a pigmy it is a giant among birds. Its wings often measure as much as fifteen feet in extent and are of corresponding power, as they have to support the Albatross by the day together above the stormy waves of the great Southern Ocean. Indeed, so enormous is their strength and endurance, that they have been known to follow ships for whole days together, without once resting upon the water. From time to time the gigantic bird plunges down into the sea to capture the fishes with which he satisfies his hunger; and it is said that where Albatrosses are numerous they will even attack sailors who may happen to fall overboard. From their abundance at the Cape of Good Hope they are often called by mariners Cape sheep.

Albatrosses generally weigh from twenty to thirty pounds. The plumage is white, except some narrow bars upon the back, and some of the long wing feathers, which are black, and of the head, which is a reddish grey. The beak is long and powerful, and curved at the end, and would be a most terrible weapon if the owner were of a pugnacious disposition. It is, however, quite inoffensive, and is even sometimes attacked by much smaller birds, when it invariably takes to flight, and the immense power of its wings generally enables it to distance its pursuers. The Albatross, like most sea birds, has a most insatiable appetite, and devours immense quantities, not only of fish, but of other sea-animals,—such as molluscs. They are so greedy that they are caught by a line baited with a piece of flesh, which the ever-hungry bird swallows at a gulp, paying with his life for the dear repast. They are taken by the natives of the countries they frequent, not for their flesh, which is tough and insipid, but for the sake of their entrails, which are very large and elastic, and are used for a number of useful purposes.

THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER.(Colymbus glacialis.)

The Great Northern Diveris found most abundantly in the Arctic seas, but a considerable number of them dwell on the shores of Scotland. It has a rather long, strong, and sharply pointed bill; its back and wings are black, ornamented with numerous white spots; its lower surface is greyish-white; and its head and neck are black, with a couple of white collars across the front of the neck. The Great Northern Diver is a large bird, measuring nearly three feet in length; its wings are small in proportion to its size, but yet the bird is able to fly very rapidly. It is, however, in the water that it is most active; it swims and dives with the most remarkable ease, and even under water goes as fast as a four-oared boat. Its food consists of fishes, and it breeds amongst the herbage of the sea-shore, the female laying two or three eggs in a neat nest made of grass.

THE PUFFIN, (Fratercula arctica,)

Isanother short-winged water bird, but, unlike the Northern Diver, it visits us in the summer, and breeds on our shores. It is about a foot long, and has the back and wings black, the cheeks and all the lower parts of the body, except a band round the neck, white, and the feet orange. Its bill is very curious, and has obtained for it the names of Sea Parrot and Coulterneb in some places. This organ is large and strong, but flattened at the sides; it is of a bluish colour, with three grooves and four ridges of an orange colour. The Puffin flies swiftly, and swims and dives almost as well as the Great Diver; it breeds sometimes in crannies amongst the rocks, and sometimes in a hole which it digs in the turf or in a rabbit-warren.

THE GREAT AUK, (Alca impennis,)

Whichis sometimes called the Northern Penguin, is a large bird, furnished with very small wings, which, although formed of regular feathers, like those of other birds, are far too weak to raise their owner into the air. They are, however, of use in another way. When the Auk dives, which it frequently does, they serve as fins, and, with its powerful webbed feet, enable it to swim underneath the water with even greater rapidity than on the surface. This bird was formerly seen occasionally on the northern coasts of Britain, and became more plentiful towards the Arctic seas; but no specimens have now been met with for many years, and there is reason to believe that the bird is quite extinct on our coasts. In the water the Great Auk, like the Diver, is wonderfully active, swimming on the surface or beneath the waves with equal ease. Mr. Bullock, when in the Orkneys, pursued a male bird for several hours in a six-oared boat without being able to kill him.

The Great Auk is generally about three feet long, and changes its plumage in summer. The breeding-season is in June and July, when the female lays one large egg, of a yellowish colour, marked with black spots.

THE PENGUIN, (Speniscus demersus,)

Ofwhich numerous species abound on the shores and islands of the great Southern Ocean, is remarkable for its almost incredible agility in the water; it swims and dives like a fish, and in fact is described as coming to the surface for air, and descending again so suddenly as to give rise to the impression that it is a fish jumping in sport. It is found in vast numbers in hiding places, where the females are seen sitting upright and holding their single egg between their legs.

THE COMMON, OR GREENLAND WHALE.(Balæna mysticetus.)

“Nature’s strange work, vast Whales of different form,Toss up the troubled flood, and are themselves a storm;Uncouth the sight, when they in dreadful play,Discharge their nostrils, and refund a sea;Or angry lash the foam with hideous sound,And scatter all the watery dust around;Fearless, the fierce destructive monsters roll,Ingulf the fish, and drive the flying shoal;In deepest seas these living isles appear,And deepest seas can scarce their pressure bear;Their bulk would more than fill the shelvy strait,And fathom’d depths would yield beneath their weight.”

The Whaleis not properly a fish; since, though it livesin the sea, and has fins and a tail instead of legs and feet, it resembles in most other respects a seal, and differs from fishes, properly so called, in many important points. Indeed, it is always included in the class Mammalia, by zoologists, as it brings forth its young alive, and nourishes them with its milk; and hence a conceited person, who said he knew every fish from the shrimp to the Whale, was justly laughed at, as neither the Whale nor the shrimp are included in the fishes by zoologists.

The general form of the Whale’s body is that of a fish; but the tail is placed horizontally instead of vertically, and the skeleton of the fins exactly resembles that of a hand affixed to a contracted arm, though it is covered with so thick a skin that no trace of the formation of the bones can be discovered externally. There are only two fins, which are very small, and close to the head. The Whale, however, differs from fishes most materially in its having warm blood; and in its lungs, which are exactly the same as those of quadrupeds. Hence, though the Whale can remain a long time under water without breathing, it is compelled to come to the surface whenever it does breathe, and for this purpose it is furnished with two large nostrils, or blow-holes as they are called. The blow-holes are most beautifully and curiously contrived to close when the animal sinks under water; so that not a drop of water can enter the lungs, however great the pressure may be. The Whale is also provided with a very thick skin, containing an immense quantity of liquid oil, called the blubber, which is so easily detached from the flesh, that when a Whale is killed, the blubber, which is sometimes two feet thick, is taken off by passing a common spade between it and the body. This thick oily skin is a non-conductor of heat, and is thus admirably adapted for preventing the warm blood of the Whale from being chilled by the cold of the water. The true fishes, which are unprovided with such a covering, have cold blood, and are therefore not susceptible of chills.

The common Whale has no teeth in either jaw, but its mouth is furnished with a kind of fringe of numerous long horny laminæ, which are what we call whalebone,and which form a kind of strainer, admitting only the small fish on which the Whale feeds. This Whalebone is one of the valuable products of the whale, though the oil is most important.

“As when enclosing harpooners assail,In hyperborean seas, the slumbering Whale;Soon as the javelins pierce the scaly side,He groans, he darts impetuous down the tide;And, rack’d all o’er with lacerating pain,He flies remote beneath the flood in vain.”Falconer.

Whales are taken in great numbers about Spitzbergen, Greenland, and other northern countries by the English, the Dutch, &c. Considerable fleets of ships are sent out every spring for this purpose. When they begin their fishery, each ship is fastened or moored with nose-hooks to the ice. Two boats, each manned with six men, are ordered by the commodore to look out for the coming of the fish for two hours, when they are relieved by two more, and so by turns; the two boats lie at some small distance from the ship, each separated from the other, fastened to the ice with their boat-hooks, ready to let go in an instant at the first sight of the Whale. Here the dexterity of the Whale hunters is to be admired; for as soon as the animal shows itself, every man is at his oar, and they all rush on the Whale with prodigious swiftness; at the same time taking care to come behind its head, that it may not see the boat, which sometimes so alarms it, that it plunges down again before they have time to strike it. But the greatest care is to be taken of the tail, with which it many times does very great damage, both to the boats and seamen. The harpooner, who is placed at the head or bow of the boat, seeing the back of the Whale, and making the onset, thrusts the harpoon with all his might into its body by the help of a staff fixed to the iron for this purpose, and leaves it in, a line being fastened to it of about two inches in circumference, and one hundred and thirty-six fathoms long. Every boat is furnished with seven of these lines, from the motion of which, when let run, they observe the course of the Whale.

As soon as the Whale is struck, the third man in the boat holds up his oar, with something on the top, as a signal to the ship; at the sight of which the man who is appointed to watch gives the alarm to those that are asleep, who instantly let fall their other four boats, which hang on the tackles, two at each side, ready to let go at a minute’s warning, all furnished with six men each, harpoons, lances, lines, &c. Two or three of these boats row to the place where the Whale may be expected to come up again; the others to assist the boat that first struck it with line; as the Whale will sometimes run out three more boats’ lines, all fastened to each other, for when the lines of the first boat are almost run out, they throw the end to the second to be fastened to theirs, and the second boat does the same to the third, and so on. In this manner line is supplied to such an extent that a large Whale has been known to carry off three miles of it.

A Whale, when he is first struck, will run out above a hundred fathoms of line, before the harpooner is able to take a turn round the boat’s stern; and with such swiftness that a man stands ready to throw water on the line to quench it, in case it should take fire, which it frequently does. There was, many years ago, a boat to be seen in the South Sea Dock at Deptford, the head of which was sawed off by the swiftness of the line running out. The harpoon would be of but little avail in the destruction of this animal; but part of the rowers, either at the first onset, or when, in order to fetch his breath, he rises to the surface and discovers himself to view, throwing aside their oars, and taking up their very sharp lances, thrust them into his body, till they see him spurt the blood through the blow-holes, the sight of which is a sign of the creature’s being mortally wounded. The fishermen, upon the killing of a Whale, are each entitled to some small reward. After the Whale is killed, they cut all the lines that were fastened to it, and then cut off the tail; upon this it instantly turns on its back; and in this manner they tow it to the ship, where they fasten ropes to keep it from sinking; and, when it is cold, begin to cut off the blubber.

The blubber of a Whale is frequently found to be eighteen or twenty inches thick; which yields fifty or sixty puncheons of oil, each puncheon containing seventy-four gallons; and the upper jaw yields about six hundred pieces of whalebone, most of which are about twelve feet long, and six or eight inches broad; the whole produce of a Whale being worth one thousand pounds, more or less, according to the size of the animal. Whilst the men are at work on the back of the Whale they have spurs on their boots, with two prongs, which come down on each side of their feet, lest they should slip, the back of the Whale being very slippery.

When the Whale feeds, it swims with considerable velocity below the surface of the sea, with its jaws widely extended. A stream of water consequently enters its mouth, carrying along with it immense quantities of cuttle-fish, sea-blubber, shrimps, and other small marine animals. The water escapes at the sides; but the food is entangled, and, as it were, sifted by the fringe of whalebone within the mouth; this kind of strainer is rendered necessary by the very small gullet, which in a Whale of sixty feet long, does not exceed four inches in width. The sailors say that a penny-loaf would choke a Whale.

The Whale bellows fearfully when wounded or in distress. Its young is called a cub.

There is also an extensive Whale fishery in the Southern Ocean, carried on chiefly by the Americans. The Whale found in those seas is distinct from the Greenland Whale, and is described by naturalists under the name ofBalæna Australis.

Isa very large Whale, specimens sometimes measuring as much as one hundred feet in length. It is distinguished by its smaller head, and by the existence of a sort of fin on the lower part of its back. The Rorqual is found in the northern seas, and specimens are sometimes seen off our coasts. It is not of much value, as it furnishes far less blubber than the common Whale, and the baleen or whalebone is so short as to be useless.

THE SPERMACETI WHALE, OR CACHALOT.(Physeter macrocephalus.)

Thisanimal has teeth in the lower jaw only; and no whalebone. The substance called spermaceti is extracted from its immense head, which is nearly half the size of the entire animal; and the throat is so large that it could swallow a shark.

The quantity of oil produced from the Spermaceti Whale is not so considerable as that obtained from the common or Greenland Whale, but in quality it is far preferable, as it yields a bright flame, without exhaling any nauseous smell. The substance known by thename of ambergris is also obtained from the body of this animal. It is generally found in the stomach, but sometimes in the intestines; and, in a commercial point of view, is a highly valuable production. The spermaceti is in a fluid state while the animal is living, and as soon as it is dead a hole is made in the head, and the liquid taken out with buckets. It becomes solid as it cools, and it is afterwards made into candles, &c.

When we reflect that the same Power whose will has formed the immense bulk of this marine monster has also given animation, senses, and passions to the smallest of the microscopic animalcules, how lowered must be the pride of man, who, standing in the middle, and nearly at equal distance from both, is yet unable to comprehend the mechanism which puts them in motion, and much less that intelligence and power which has given them life, and has assigned to them their respective stations in the universe! Let us then exclaim, with astonishment and gratitude, with the Psalmist: “O Lord, how inscrutable are thy ways, how magnificent thy works!”

THE DOLPHIN. (Delphinus delphis.)

Thisanimal, like the whale, is not considered a fish, though it lives in the water, as it has warm blood and suckles its young, which are born alive. It has also lungs instead of gills, and is therefore obliged to raise its head above the surface of the water to breathe.

The Dolphin is from six to ten feet in length. Thebody is roundish, gradually diminishing towards the tail; the nose is long and pointed, the skin smooth, the back black or dusky blue, becoming white below. It has numerous small teeth in each jaw; a dorsal and two pectoral fins, and a tail in the shape of a crescent. The beak-like snout has probably made the French call the Dolphin the sea-goose.

Several curious stories have been related of this animal, most of which are fabulous. The anecdote of Arion, the musician, who, being thrown overboard by pirates, was indebted for his life to one of these animals, is well known, and acquired great credit among ancient poets, as it was said to be by his music that Arion charmed the Dolphin. There are several other fables mentioned by ancient authors to prove the philanthropy of the Dolphin. Since the province ofDauphinéin France has been united to the crown, the heir-apparent has been called “Dauphin,” and quarters a Dolphin on his shield. Falconer, in his beautiful poem, “The Shipwreck,” describes the death of the Dolphin in the following elegant manner:

Back to Index Next