THE "SPOUTING" OF WHALES. 259 



Whale," is not unmusical at sea, and that when it takes 

 place under water it often makes a peculiar sound which 

 might be mistaken for the whistling of a bird. Hence is 

 derived one of the names given to this whale by sailors 

 the "Sea-canary." Though I have had opportunities of 

 attentively watching the breathing and other actions in 

 captivity of two specimens of this whale I have never been 

 able to detect the sound alluded to. 



Besides the opinions cited by Mr. Bell concerning whales 

 spouting water from their blow-holes, we have other 

 evidence which is most clear and definite, and which 

 ought to be convincing. 



We will take first that of Mr. Beale, who as surgeon on 

 board the " Kent " and " Sarah and Elizabeth," South Sea 

 whalers, passed several seasons amongst sperm whales. 

 He says : 



" I can truly say when I find myself in opposition to these old and 

 received notions, that out of the thousands of sperm whales which I 

 have seen during my wanderings in the South and North Pacific 

 Oceans, I have never observed one of them to eject a column of water 

 from the nostril. I have seen them at a distance, and I have been 

 within a few yards of several hundreds of them, and I never saw water 

 pass from the spout-hole. But the column of thick and dense vapour 

 which is certainly ejected is exceedingly likely to mislead the judgment 

 of the casual observer in these matters ; and this column does indeed 

 appear very much like a jet of water when seen at the distance of one 

 or two miles on a clear day, because of the condensation of the vapour 

 which takes place the moment it escapes from the nostril, and its 

 consequent opacity, which makes it appear of a white colour, and 

 which is not observed when the whale is close to the spectator. It 

 then appears only like a jet of white steam. The only water in addi- 

 tion is the small quantity that may be lodged in the external fissure of 

 the spout hole, when the animal raises it above the surface to breathe, 

 and which is blown up into the air with the ' spout,' and may probably 

 assist in condensing the vapour of which it is formed. ... I have 

 been also very close to the Baltzna mysticctus (the Greenland, or 

 Right whale) when it has been feeding and breathing, and yet I never 



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