SOME INTERESTING HABITS 



the spout had been delivered and while the animal 

 was drawing in its breath. The great nostrils were 

 widely dilated and protruded far above the level of 

 the head. 



This is an excellent illustration of what an im- 

 portant part the camera plays in natural history study, 

 for often a photograph will show with accuracy many 

 things which the eye does not record. When a whale 

 rises so close to the ship that one can almost touch 

 its huge body, the few seconds of its appearance are 

 so full of excitement that it is well-nigh impossible 

 to study details at least so I have found. 



During spouting, and while drawing in the breath, 

 the rush of air through the pipe-like nostrils produces 

 a loud, metallic, whistling sound which, in the larger 

 whales, can be heard for a distance of a mile or more. 

 Since cetaceans have no vocal organs it is probable 

 that this is the sound which is so often mistaken for 

 their voice in the statements that whales have 

 "roared," or "bellowed like a bull." 



To me it always seems as though a whale ought 

 to have a voice of proportions equal to the animal's 

 bulk. I have never quite recovered from the feeling 

 I had when I first saw a big humpback rise a few 

 feet from the ship. The animal appeared so enormous 

 that if it had uttered a terrifying roar it would have 

 seemed quite the natural and proper thing. The re- 

 spiratory sounds differ with each cetacean; I have 

 often been near humpbacks and finbacks which were 

 feeding together, and could always distinguish the 

 latter species by the sharper and more metallic quality 



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