54 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Violence in pursuit of its prey. 



that surrounds its body, and yields an excellent 

 oil. The nose being furnished with very strong 

 muscles, that enable it to turn up the sand for 

 eels and sea worms, it is thence in many places 

 called the sea-hog: and the animal sleeps with 

 its snout above the water. 



These animals live chiefly on the smallej fish; 

 at the season when mackerel, herring, pilchards, 

 and salmon appear, the porpesses swarm, and 

 pursue them even up the rivers with great avi- 

 dity, following their game like a pack of hounds. 

 In Cornwall, during the pilchard season, they 

 often do much mischief, by an universal lacera- 

 tion of the nets, and interrupting the fishery. In 

 some places they almost darken the sea, as they 

 rise above water to take breath, which they do 

 very frequently. As the porpesses generally fre- 

 quent the rivers in shoal water, the natives of 

 Canada adopt the following method of catching 

 them. When the fishing season arrives, they 

 collect together a great number of sallow twigs, 

 or slender branches of other trees, and stick them 

 pretty firmly into the sand-banks of the river, 

 which at low water are left dry; this is done on 

 the side towards the river, forming a long line of 

 twigs at moderate distances, which at the upper 

 end is connected with the shore, an opening 

 being left at the lower end that they may enter. 

 As the tide rises it covers the twigs so as to keep 

 them out of sight; the porpesse, in quest of his 

 prey, gets within the line, where he continues 



