344 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA [No. 55 



formerly to range in the Pacific from 56 north latitude to 56 south, 

 but that was in the early days of the whaling industry from 1853 to 

 1874, when this most valuable of all whales was being eagerly pur- 

 sued. At present their numbers are greatly reduced. 



General habits. Sperm whale3 are wide ocean wanderers and are 

 often found in schools numbering 15 to 20 and even up to hundreds, 

 sometimes a mixture of cows, calves, and bulls, or sometimes a band 

 of old bulls or young bulls together. Generally the young bulls are 

 timid and wary, but the old bulls will sometimes savagely attack the 

 whaler,s' boats or even the ships, while the cows will fight for their 

 calves and follow the boats if their young are captured. They are 

 supposed to be deep-sea divers, and are known to stay under water 

 for a longer time than any other whales, having been timed from 50 

 to 80 minutes while submerged. 



Breeding habits. Owing to their pelagic range little is on record 

 of their breeding habits. The single calf is usually .found with the 

 cow whale and is born " at any time or place that nature may 

 demand. " 



Food habits. Their food consists principally of .squid or cuttle- 

 fish, captured while swimming or possibly snapped up with the well- 

 armed jaw from their hiding places on the ocean floor. Also, ac- 

 cording to Scammon, an occasional codfish, albicore, or bonito con- 

 tributes to their bill of fare. 



Economic status. Scammon say$ the fully matured whales of this 

 species rank with, if they do not exceed, the bowhead or great polar 

 whale in magnitude and commercial value. The yield of oil is giver: 

 as 75 to 85 barrels, while the sperm oil and spermaceti from the 

 oil tank of the head, will .sometimes yield as much as 15 barrels of 

 these valuable products. In less imminent danger of extinction than 

 some whales of more local range, there seems great danger that this 

 valuable species will not long be found in paying abundance. 



Family ZIPHIIDAE: Beaked Whales 



BERARDIUS BAIRDII STEJNEGER 



BAIRD'S BEAKED WHALE 



Berardius bairdii Stejneger, U. S. Natl. Mus. Proc. 6: 75, 1883. 



Type. Skull collected on eastern shore of Bering Island, by Leonhard 

 Stejneger, in 1881. 



General characters. A small whale about 40 feet long with small head, 

 slender beaklike mandibles, and 1 or 2 large teeth near tip of each lower jaw ; 

 pectorals small and close to head; dorsal fin small and far back; tail flukes 

 broad. Black over most of body, gray or whitish on belly posteriorly in some 

 individuals. 



Measurements. A large male stranded on the beach at Ferndale, Calif., 

 measured 41 feet in total length and 16 feet in circumference around the 

 middle of body. 



Distribution and habitat. Known from a few individuals cast up 

 on shores of the North Pacific, the type skull and a few others from 

 Bering Island, 2 from St. George Island of the Pribilof Group, and 

 1 from the outer beach near Ferndale, Calif. There seems to be no 

 record of a living individual of the species, hence nothing of their 

 habits is known. 



