32 



CETACEANS. 



majority of such specimens, according to Sir W. H. Flower, are solitary and gener- 

 ally young individuals, although occasionally an adult female with her offspring is 

 taken. The best account of the habits of the bottlenose is given by Captain D. Gray, 

 of which the following is a summary. In the early spring these whales are to be met 

 with occasionally after leaving the Shetland Islands, and thence northward to the 

 borders of the polar ice, where they are more numerous. They also frequent the seas 

 around Iceland, Greenland as far north as latitude 77°, Western Spitzbergen, and 

 Davis Strait, and it is highly probable that they may range as far as Novaia 

 Zemlia. Although they do not venture in among the ice itself, they frequent the 

 open bays along its margin for the shelter thus afforded from the open sea. They 



BOTTLE.NOSE-'.YHALE. 



are generally to be found in herds comprising from four to ten individuals; but 

 many different herds may be in sight at the same time. The adult males are 

 frequently solitary : but sometimes one of them may be seen leading a herd. 

 These whales exhibit little fear of ships, swimming around them, and beneath the 

 boats, till their curiosity is satisfied. The herd remain around a wounded com- 

 panion till its death, upon which they immediately desert. If, however, a second 

 individual lie harpooned before the death of the one first struck, and this process 

 continued, a whole herd may be killed at once. They exhibit great endurance of 

 wounds and tenacity of life, old males taking out from three hundred to four 

 hundred, and occasionally as much as seven hundred, fathoms of line. Captain Gray 

 describes their activity as very great, stating that they are able to leap out of the 

 water many feet high in the air, and while so doing have time to turn their heads 



