DOLPHINS 287 



no less than thirteen porpoises and fourteen seals were 

 extracted. Scammon relates how they may some- 

 times "be seen peering above the surface with a seal 

 in their bristling jaws, shaking and crushing their 

 victims, apparently with great gusto, and swallowing 

 them." A party of Killers will also assault the 

 laro-est whales. Scammon relates an attack of this 



o 



nature upon a Californian Grey whale, which he wit- 

 nessed. "They made alternate assaults upon the 

 old whale and her offspring, finally killing the latter, 

 which sunk to the bottom, where the water was five 

 fathoms deep. During the struggle the mother 

 became nearly exhausted, having received several 

 deep wounds about the throat and lips. As soon as 

 their prize had settled to the bottom the three Orcas 

 descended, bringing up large pieces of flesh in their 

 mouths, which they devoured after coming to the 

 surface." 



The ferocity, or at any rate the boldness, of this 

 predaceous Cetacean is also attested to by his High- 

 ness the Prince of Monaco.* "Two years ago," the 

 Prince writes, " I chased a school of three of these 

 just off the Monaco rock, and very soon one was 

 struck by my whaler's harpoon. While it was ending 

 with violent struggles the two others came alongside 

 the whale-boat, and seemed willing to fight for their 

 companion. They swam round and round, sometimes 

 so close that the men touched their enormous backs 

 with their hands." It has been even said that the 



* In Nature of June 3oth, 1898 (p. 203). 



