I2O4 



THE CETACEANS 



are recorded from the shores of Spain, Western France, or the Mediterranean 

 countries. The majority of such specimens, according to Sir W. H. Flower, are 

 solitary and generally young individuals, although occasionally an adult female with 

 her offspring is taken. The best account of the habits of the bottle-nose is given by 

 Captain D. Gray, of which the following is a summary. In the early spring these 

 whales are to be met with occasionally after leaving the Shetland islands, and thence 

 northward to the borders of the polar ice, where they are more numerous. They 

 also frequent the seas around Iceland, Greenland as far north as latitude 77, West- 

 ern Spitzbergen, and Davis Strait, and it is highly probable that they may range as 

 far as Nova Zembla. Although they do not venture in among the ice itself, they 



BOTTLE-NOSE WHALE. 



frequent the open bays along its margin for the shelter thus afforded from the open 

 sea. They are generally to be found in herds comprising from four to ten individ- 

 uals; but many different herds may be in sight at the same time. The adult males 

 are frequently solitary; but sometimes one of them may be seen leading a herd. 

 These whales exhibit little fear of ships, swimming around them, and beneath the 

 boats, till their curiosity is satisfied. The herd remain around a wounded com- 

 panion till its death, upon which they immediately desert. If, however, a second 

 individual be harpooned before the death of the one first struck, andrthis process 

 continued, a whole herd may be killed at once. They exhibit great endurance of 

 wounds and tenacity of life, old males taking out from three hundred to four 

 hundred, and occasionally as much as seven hundred, fathoms of line. Captain 



