76 SECRETS OF ANIMAL LIFE 



hour; and the creature is fond of lying quietly 

 on the surface, perhaps asleep. Mr. Allen quotes 

 an old story of the Mayflower's encounter in Cape 

 Cod Bay. " We saw daily great whales, of the best 

 kind for oil and bone, come close aboard our ship, 

 and in fair weather swim and play about us. There 

 was once one, when the sun shone warm, came and 

 lay above water, as if she had been dead, for a good 

 while together, within half a musket shot of the 

 ship; at which two were prepared to shoot, to see 

 whether she would stir or no. He that gave fire first 

 his musket flew in pieces, both stock and barrel; 

 yet, thanks be to God, neither he nor any man else 

 was hurt with it, though many were there about. 

 But when the whale saw her time she gave a snuff, 

 and away." The blowing or breathing-out of hot 

 air occurs half a dozen or more times in rapid 

 succession, and the "spout," consisting of water- 

 vapor condensed into drops, plus, it may be, a 

 little spray carried up by the nose-opening blast, 

 may rise to a height of fifteen feet. Since Aristotle 

 did not think of a whale as a fish, Milton was not 

 very happy with his " And at his gills draws in, 

 and at his trunk spouts out, a sea." After a longer 

 or shorter period of forceful breathing the whale 

 dives (almost perpendicularly, so that the flukes 

 are the last parts seen), and may remain under 

 water for ten to twenty minutes. The Right Whale 

 is a dainty feeder as far as quality goes, for it de- 

 pends mainly on small crustaceans. These are en- 

 gulfed in the yawning cavern of the mouth, strained 



