1082 



ZOOI.OCJICAL SOCIKTY BULLETIN 



TlIK roKl'OISI'.s AHI-. C(lMIN(i 



Mild tilled with water. During the voyage up 

 Pamlico Sound and even tiirough the Great 

 Dismal Swamp Canal the fresh water in the 

 tanks was changed whenever it became warm. 

 After reaching the New York steamer at Nor- 

 folk the cooling of the porpoise tanks en route 

 was greatly simplified by the use of the salt 

 water hose. 



The shipping of porpoises alive is therefore 

 a simjjle matter. Adult animals readily stand 

 transportation, while the young animals do not. 

 If carried in long, narrow boxes just sufficient- 

 ly large to accommodate 

 them without rubbing, and 

 if kept supplied with sufK- 

 cient cold water to support 

 and cover them, they cm 

 be handled easily enough. 

 There is probably no re;i- 

 son why a por))oise, under 

 such cinditions, should not 

 be carried in a tank many 

 times the distance from 

 Hatteras to New York. 



Our porpoises are ratlur 

 expensive boarders, consum- 

 ing between eiarhtv and 

 ninety pounds oi iresh her- 

 ring or tomcod a day. For 

 a few days after their ar- 

 rival they would eat noth- 

 ing. Within a week they 

 began to take a few live 

 fishes and, after having once 

 started to feed, it was not 



difficult to get them to take 

 dead fish. A few days of 

 hunger b r o u g h t tiicm 

 around, as it does in the 

 case of the newly captured 

 seal or sea lion. 



Cape Hatteras, singular- 

 Iv enough, is the only point 

 in North America where a 

 jKU-poisc fishery has ever 

 been regularly conducted. 

 The bottle-nosed por])oise 

 y appears to winter ofl' our 

 South Atlantic coast and is 

 quite common in the vicin- 

 ity of Cape Hatteras dur- 

 ing the fall, winter and 

 sjiring months. Schools of 

 *- ~ - •>. ]iorpoises may be seen pass- 



>- ing every dav just outside 



the surf. They are taken 

 with a net about one thou- 

 sand feet long, which is 

 placed a cou|)Ie of hundred yards outside the 

 line of surf and parallel with it. At each end 

 there is a boat in waiting, ready to carry the 

 haul lines directly ashore as soon as a band of 

 porpoises has passed between the net and the 

 surf. After the lines have been carried ashore, 

 the porpoises are considered fairly secure, for 

 they do not often attempt to cross the lines and. 

 even when they do, can usually be frightened 

 back by having someone shake and jerk each 

 line continuously. It requires some time to 

 briiiii- the ends of the big seine to the beach. 



iH 



''4Ur>4» 



DRAGGING A rORTOISF. FROM IIIK N K F 



