MAMMALS. 73 



the Shetland Isles, present the greatest facilities of any part of 

 Great Britain for studying the habits, or giving records of the 

 capture of these, literally, monsters of the deep, though unless 

 there be a naturalist on the spot one is more likely to hear how 

 much oil, spermaceti, or whalebone a defunct whale affords, 

 than of what species it is, or what are its measurements. 



Order CETACEA. 

 Sub-order MYSTACOCETL 



Family BAL-fflNID^E. 

 Balaena mysticetus (.). Greenland Whale. 



Low writes in his Fauna that, even in his time, this animal had, to 

 a great extent, taken leave of our seas, as he supposed, on 

 account of the increase in shipping and consequent disturbance. 

 He says that several have come ashore of late years (i.e. subse- 

 quent to 1770 or thereabouts), mentioning one in particular 

 40 feet long. This came ashore in Walls. 



Mr. Moodie-Heddle's father has left a note that this species 

 is now very rare, those that occur being either weak or diseased 

 animals. 



One was said to have been got at S. Konaldsay in 1828, but 

 Mr. Cowan tells us he does not believe that the true Greenland 

 Whale was ever seen in the Orkneys. 



Family BAKENOPTERIDJE. 

 Megaptera longimana (Rudolph). Hump-backed Whale. 



Mr. Cowan says this species is rare in Orkney. We have no 

 special record of any specimen. 



Balaenoptera musculus (.). Common Rorqual. 

 Ore. = Firmer. 



This is probably the whale referred to by Low, which he says is 

 seen most frequently in the autumn, when the sounds and seas 



