WHALESi 311 



nates, just as the boats were near or distant. They had one Account of the 



small fin on the back. The people called them bottle-noses, ^^^^\ ^^^^^^^ ^ 

 ^ *^ II > which frequent 



and common black whales, but most generally ca i?ig whales, the north coast 

 They had a row of teeth, 1 4 inches long, in both jaws, about o'^Scoiland,8;c. 

 two dozen in number in each jaw The upper jaw was rather 

 the widest. They had no whalebone in the mouth, and had 

 only one blow-hole, situated in a small hollow at the back of 

 the head. Most of the females were either with young or 

 giving suck. Many of the young ones had got no teeth. They 

 had all very fine black skins, as soft and smooth as silk. They 

 appeared to be very inoffensive animals, and shewed much na- 

 tural affection for each other: when any one first struck the 

 ground, it set up a kind of howling cry, and immediately others 

 crowded to the spot, as for its relief. Sandy giddocks (sand- 

 lances) were founil in their mouths," From information fur- 

 nished by another gentleman, I farther learned, that " from 

 the tip of the nose to (he last vertebra of the back-bone, the 

 generality of the whales measured twenty feet: that the head 

 was short and round, resembling in shape the head of a seal; 

 and the upper jaw projected three or four inches over the 

 lower.'' — Numbers of the females (this gentleman adds) were 

 sickling their young when driven ashore; and while they 

 continued alive, the milk was seen to issue from their nipples: 

 of these they had only two, resembling the teats of a cow, but ^ 



larger." 



This kind of whale sometimes appears, in large herds, off 

 the Orkney, and especially the Shetland islands. Being of a 

 gregarious disposition, the main body of the drove tpllows the 

 leading whales, as a flock of sheep follows the wedders. Hence 

 the name of ca'ing whales, bestowed on them by the natives, 

 who well know th;it if they are able to guide the leaders into a 

 bay, they are sure of likewise entangling multitudes of their 

 followers. Though the above description proves that they be- 

 long to the genus Delphinus. and are nearly allied to the Del- 

 phinus Orca or Grampus, they appear to me to diiTer in seve- 

 ral respects from that, or any of the other species described by 

 naturalists, so much at east, as to deserve the attention of gen- 

 tlemen who may hereafter enjoy opportunities of accurate ob- 

 servation. I shiill briefly enumerate the points of dissimi- 

 larity. 



2 B 4 The, 



