Part 13

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.” 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.” 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.

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