148 WHALES AND PORPOISES 
shallow water. Its color is slaty gray, variegated with ir- 
regular white markings, and its length is from 15 to 20 feet. 
Tue Kiuter “WHALE,” or Orca,! is the demon of the 
seas. This creature has the appetite of a hog, the cruelty 
of a wolf, the courage of a bulldog and the most terrible 
jaws afloat. Its teeth are surpassed in size only by those of 
the sperm whale. It attacks whales of the largest size, and 
devours sea-lions, seals and small porpoises as a hungry 
longshoreman destroys saddle-rock oysters. 
A full-grown Killer is from 16 to 20 feet in length, and 
can always be recognized by the great height of its back fin. 
The all-black High-Finned Killer, of the Pacific only, has a 
back fin six feet high. The colors of Orcinus orca are those 
of the pirate’s flag of skull-and-cross-bones,—black and white, 
disposed as shown in the accompanying illustration. This 
species is found on both coasts of North America and in the 
Arctic Ocean. 
The following quotation from Captain Scammon is the 
testimony of an eye-witness of the Orca in action: 
“Three or four of these voracious animals do not hesitate 
to grapple with the largest baleen whale. The attack of these 
wolves of the ocean upon their gigantic prey may be likened 
in some respects to a pack of hounds holding a stricken deer 
at bay. They cluster about the animal’s head, some of their 
number breaching over it, while others seize it by the lips, 
and draw the bleeding monster under water; and when 
captured, should the mouth be open, they eat out its tongue. 
““We once saw an attack made by three Killers upon a cow 
1 Or-ci’nus or'ca. 
