PORPOISES AND DOLPHINS 293 



and cunning peculiar to their carnivorous propensities". The 

 same author mentions instances where a band ot Killers laid 

 siege to a whale in tow and, though frequently lanced and cut 

 with boat spades, made away with their prey. 



Killers hunt in packs varying in number from two or three 

 to thirty or forty, and when attacking large baleen whales 

 their behaviour is comparable to that of a pack of wolves 

 attacking a deer. An early account states that some of the 

 Killers " will lay hold of a whale's tail to keep him from 

 threshing while others lay hold of his head and bite and thresh 

 him ; the poor creature being thus held, lolls out his tongue 

 and then some of the Killers catch hold of his lips and if 

 possible of his tongue, and after they have killed him they 

 chiefly feed upon the tongue and head, but when he begins 

 to putrify they leave him ". The most recent accounts 

 appear to substantiate, in general at any rate, the mode of 

 attack just described. 



In the Arctic the White Whale and the Walrus are sought 

 by the Killer, and Scammon in the book already quoted tells 

 how in the vicinity of the seal rookeries Killers will hover 

 about so that even the largest male sea lions endeavour to 

 avoid an encounter. Worthy of mention too is Scammon's 

 description of the manner in which the young Walrus will 

 mount upon its mother's back for refuge from the Killer. 

 It is dislodged, however, and eventually devoured by the 

 attacking animal quickly diving, coming up under the parent 

 Walrus, and with a spiteful thud throwing the young one 

 from the dam's back. This method of securing food is the 

 same as that used to obtain seals which have taken refuge on 

 ice floes. 



There are several accounts of Killers bumping the under 

 surface of ice floes whilst men were standing on top and, most 

 exciting of all, was Mr. Ponting's narrow escape when with 

 the British Antarctic " Terra Nova " Expedition. Captain 

 Scott writes that Ponting was taking photographs on the floe 

 edge when the whole floe heaved up and was broken into 

 fragments as the photographer sped to safety. A booming 

 noise could be heard as the Killers rose under the ice and 

 struck it with their backs. He and other Antarctic writers 

 tell of the Killers' behaviour at the ice edge, of how they will 



