THE WHALES, DOLPHINS AND MANATEES 339 



understood. It is a gregarious creature, " schools " of a dozen 

 to fifty or sixty being occasionally seen. At other times great 

 fellows are found here and there on lonely pilgrimages, or a few 

 together en route to fresh feeding -grounds. Adult females or 

 those with young in their company evince a strong affection for 

 each other, and when one is killed or injured the parents or com- 

 panions hover about and even render assistance. The steady 

 " fishing " of these gigantic animals for many years has greatly 

 thinned their numbers, and with the improvement in the apparatus 

 for their capture and slaughter now in use they are a race of 

 animals doomed to rapid and complete extinction. 



The Dolphins and Porpoises, forming the family Delphinidae, 

 embrace the greater number of existing species of whales, and 

 the group possesses considerable diversity in outward form and 

 anatomical details. Nearly all have dorsal fins. Excepting in 

 the Narwhal, numerous teeth exist in both jaws, and the lower 

 jaw is united only for a short distance; there is no distinct skull 

 crest behind the nasal orifice, and the neck vertebrae in most are 

 soldered together. 



The Caaing, or Pilot Whale, is one of the best known of the 

 whales that frequent the coasts of Great Britain, large herds having 

 often been run ashore in the Shetlands, Orkneys, and Firth of Forth. 

 The body is cylindrical, tapering to the tail ; the dorsal fin is high, 

 placed at the middle of the back, and the flippers are unusually 

 long and narrow. The head is quite characteristic, having the 

 form of a massive boss. The adult animal averages from sixteen 

 to twenty-five feet in length, and is of a jet black colour, except 

 on the abdomen, which is greyish or whitish in colour. When a 

 " school " of these whales is seen to enter the bays of our northern 

 coast the fishermen set off in their boats and form a cordon sea- 

 wards ; and then by gunshots, shouts, and splashings drive the 

 frightened animals shorewards, where they are quickly dispatched. 



The Common Porpoise is frequently to be met with off our 

 coasts, and a prettier sight can hardly be conceived than a large 

 shoal frolicking, dashing, jumping in all manner of fantastic curves, 

 in the sparkling summer sea. The animal has a wide distribution, 

 being found all over the Mediterranean, Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic 

 regions ; and it appears to be migratory in its habits, probably 

 following the migration of the shoals of herring, mackerel, and 



