92 MAMMALS. 



has, like the last, two teeth in the lower jaw. The dorsal 

 fin lies back near the tail. 



Cuvier's A rare beaked whale allied to the last. 

 Whale. 



The Porpoise, or Sea-Hog, is a familiar object on our 

 coasts, where its appearance in numbers is locally, and 

 with some reason, regarded as the prelude to 

 a spell of east wind. It feeds entirely on fish, 

 herrings more especially, and when the shoals of the latter 

 break up, it ascends rivers after the salmon. Its fate is 

 usually a rifle-ball, and it has always seemed to me matter 

 for regret that it should not be more systematically hunted 

 for its superb oil, which is worth at the least half-a- 

 sovereign the gallon, as also for its hide, excellent material 

 for shooting boots. The female bears one calf only at a 

 time. This cetacean is too common to need description ; 

 its triangular back fin is often seen cleaving the water, and 

 the arched backs have, when several proceed in single file, 

 given the impression of a sea-serpent. The blowhole is 

 crescent -shaped. In colour our porpoise is black above, 

 white beneath. 



The Kound-headed Porpoise, " Black fish," or " Pilot- 

 whale," rarely encountered in English waters, is seen in 

 Bound- herds, often driving along at high speed, 

 headed among the northern isles. It is the "ca'ing 

 Porpoise. whale of the ghetlanders, who kill it for its 

 oil. Its food is said to consist largely of cod, flounders, 

 and cuttlefish. 



This cetacean has a short dorsal fin, the flippers be- 

 ing short and narrow. On the forehead is a conspicuous 

 swelling. Some twenty conical teeth lie in either jaw. In 

 colour it is black above, white beneath ; a heart-shaped 

 white patch is situate below the head. 



The Grampus, or " Killer," is the most voracious of the 



