92 SEALS AND WHALES OF THE BRLTLSH SEAS. 



at the surface ten or eleven minutes, during which he makes sixty or seventy- 

 expirations ; after which he disappears, to return again to the surface in one 

 hour and ten minutes. The blowing is not accompanied by any sound, and 

 notwithstanding the wonderful accounts of its roarings and bellowings, the 

 Sperm Whale may be said to be an absolutely silefit animal. The females 

 and young males are gregarious, but are found in separate herds or " schools," 

 as they are called. A " school '' will sometimes consist of five or six hundred 

 individuals. The herds of females are always accompanied by from one to 

 three large "bulls; " but the full-grown males are said to be generally solitary 

 in their habits, except on certain occasions, when it is supposed they are 

 migrating from one feeding-place to another. The majority of those which 

 occur on our coast are these solitary males ; when they visit us in herds, as 

 mentioned by Sir Thomas Browne, they are all probably females or young 

 males. The "bulls" are very fierce and jealous, and fight fiercely. The 

 females show great attachment to each other and to their young, so much so 

 that, one being wounded, the others of the herd remain and fall a compara- 

 tively easy prey. The young males, on the other hand, are very wary and 

 difficult of approach, and should one be attacked, the others immediately take 

 the alarm and retreat. The female produces one young one, rarely two, at a 

 time, and breeds at all seasons of the year. Their senses of sight and hearing 

 are very acute, and after being once unsuccessfully attacked, they are very 

 difficult and dangerous to approach. 



The food of the Sperm Whale consists almost entirely of Cephalopode 

 Mollusks (cuttle-fish), although at times, when feeding near the shore, it has 

 been known to take fish as large as salmon. How it contrives to capture such 

 active prey as fish seems difficult to conceive. Beale is of opinion that the 

 Whale sinks to a proper depth in the sea, where remaining as quiet as 

 possible, and opening wide its mouth, the prey are attracted by the glistening 

 white colour of its lining membrane, curiosity leading them to destruction ; 



