DOLPHINS AND PORPOISES. 53 



One of the most famous animals of this group, one with a 

 world-wide reputation, is " Pelorus Jack," the pilot-dolphin of the 

 French Pass, known for many years to every traveller between Wel- 

 lington and Nelson. This famous " whale " has been photographed 

 scores of times, and his general form and large dorsal fin are well 

 known. I am indebted to Messrs. Sharland and Co. (Limited) for 

 permission to reproduce the photograph shown in Fig. 8. For 

 something like twenty years he met every steamer that came 

 through the French Pass, whether by day or night. His " station," 

 if one may use the word, was somewhere ofi the mouth of 

 Pelorus Sound, and as soon as a passing vessel got within a 

 mile or two of this region " Jack " would be seen racing along 



FIG. 7. THE DOLPHIN (AFTER McCoy). 



until he was alongside, when he would escort the boat for some 

 distance before racing off again. Among various yarns told about 

 him was one that he used to rub himself on the vessels, presumably 

 either for a scratch on the back or to divest himself of some of the 

 fish-lice which frequently infest whales. I have seen him on several 

 occasions, and never to greater advantage than when he accom- 

 panied the little trawling-steamer, the " Doto," as we were going 

 into the French Pass. He kept alongside and played round the 

 bows for over five minutes, and then sheered off to visit a larger 

 vessel which was coming in from Cook Strait. In Hutton and 

 Drummond's "Animals of New Zealand" he was stated to be a 

 Beluga, or White Whale, and was identified as Delphinapterus 

 leucas; but this is purely a northern species. Waite considers it 

 is a Risso's Dolphin (Grampus griseus), and says "the general 



