26 BRITISH MAMMAIS 



they were detained by hastily constructed weirs, and for three 

 days they made such a distressing noise with their bellowing that 

 (with the usual quaint notion of kindness which distinguishes 

 our treatment of the lower animals) they were " put out of their 

 misery," not by being released and allowed to return to their 

 happy life in the open sea, but by being promptly killed. 



There is no doubt about the porpoise being a British 

 mammal, for not only is it extremely abundant all round the 

 coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, but it frequently ascends the 

 principal British rivers, not even excepting the Thames. The 

 breeding season of the porpoise is generally supposed to be in 

 the spring, and the period of gestation is said to be six months,- 

 but it would seem as though breeding may take place at other 

 seasons, since females with fully developed young have been 

 captured in May. The porpoise only produces a single young 

 one at a birth. 



The food of the porpoise consists entirely of fish, usually of 

 the size of mackerel or salmon. The flesh of the porpoise is said 

 to be like pork, and the creature was formerly much eaten in the 

 coast regions of Great Britain, though it has now gone entirely 

 out of vogue. During the middle ages it was an important 

 article of diet, since, being regarded by the Roman Catholic 

 Church as a fish, it was permissible to eat the succulent flesh of the 

 porpoise on fast days. Nowadays its only importance to com- 

 merce consists in its hide, which furnishes doubtfully good leather 

 for boots, ^ and for its oil yielded by the blubber. The average 

 porpoise may yield as much as three gallons of oil. 



Orca gladiator. The Common " Killer " Whale, or 



Grampus 



This is, in some respects, the most interesting of the British 

 whales, owing to its ferocious disposition, striking coloration, 

 and world-wide distribution. It is constantly met with near the 

 coasts of the British Islands, and occasionally ascends tidal rivers. 



^ Much of the leather known as porpoise hide is, however, made from the 

 skin of the white whale. 



