I64f Natural Hhtory in the English Counti'eL 



of nearly 70 tons, being equal to that of 280 or 300 fat oxen !) ; the jaws 

 are 15 ft, long and 8ift. wide ; the tail is 15 ft. wide* Unfortunately, w0 

 were not able to inspect it till late on Friday, when it had been so mucl* 

 disfigured by the partial removal of the blubber by the fishermen, that we 

 were prevented from ascertaining the species, and describing it minutely^ 

 which we very much regret. The proprietors were cutting offpiecesof the 

 baleen or whalebones (gills they erroneously called it), which they sold to 

 the visitors. This substance is extremely curious ; and although so well 

 known to every one from its being used in various articles of dress, &c., 

 but few, we suspect, ima^^ine it to answer the purpose of teeth to this le- 

 viathan of the ocean. It is disposed in laminae on the insideof the jaw ; in 

 some species there are not less than 300 or 400 on each side. The 

 edges of the baleen are furnished with a sort of fringe formed of bristles, 

 and which is tufted and longer near the extremities of the whalebones. 

 The whales live on small fish, but principally on worms, mollusca, and 

 zoophytes j and they chiefly take those small ones which become entangled 

 in the filaments of the baleen. Another remarkable character in the struc-. 

 ture of the whale consists in the spiracles or air-holes, which are situated 

 towards the middle of the head, and through which the animal breathes ; 

 for the whale is in fact not 2i,Jish, but a warm-blooded animal having a heart 

 with two ventricles, and lungs through which it respires ; and is obliged, in 

 consequence, to come to the surface of the water to breathe, having no 

 gills, as fishes have, by which the air can be separated from the water. The 

 blubber is a coat of fat from 6 in. to 1 ft. in thickness, situated between the: 

 flesh and skin. The oil extracted from a rich whale sometimes amounts to 

 30 tons ! The whale suckles its young, and the milk resembles that of the 

 cow, but contains more cream and nutritive matter. The tail is the prin- 

 cipal weapon and moving power of the whale ; it is endowed with the 

 most astonishing rapidity of motion and force, and is capable of over- 

 throwing boats of considerable burden. It is worthy of remark, that in 

 the cliff, but a few hundred yards from the spot where the whale is now 

 stranded, Mr. Mantell, about two years ago, discovered part of the jaw 

 (9 ft. long) of a whale in a fossil state : it was lying embedded in the 

 §hingle of the cliff, in which the teeth and bones of elephants are also 

 found. What a subject for reflection is here ! Man is now the contera-* 

 porary of the whale : but at the remote period when the strata which form 

 these cliffs were deposited, enormous elephants existed, which subsequent 

 revolutions have swept from the face of the earth. (Communicated to the 

 Brighton Gazette of January 6, 1831, by Mr. Mantell of Lewes.) 



Warwickshire. 

 The Waxen or Bohemian Chatterer. — Sir, A very fine specimen of the- 

 Waxen or Bohemian Chatterer (^'mpelis garrulus Linn.) has just been 

 brought to me, which was shot about the 5th of December, in the fields, 

 only a short distance from this village. Two others were in company 

 with my specimen at the time it was shot; and from my mformant I learn 

 that they appeared to associate with the starlings. Bewick, in his hitro-, 

 duction to British Birds^ vol. i. p. 24., says, that," the Bohemian chatterer,: 

 the grosbeak *, and the crossbill are only occasional visitors, and, 



* Several specimens of the grosbeak were shot near this place during 

 the hard weather of the year 1822-3, since which I have not heard of any 

 havmg made their appearance. Crossbills, too, have occasionally visited 

 tlie neighbourhood in considerable numbers. In Staffordshire, I have seen 

 the latter species frequenting the larch and fir trees in the middle of sum- 

 mer (July), and have been informed that they usually made their appear- 

 ance there about that time ; it is probable, therefore, that they must have 

 bred in the neighbourhood. 



