SEALS AND WHALES OE THE BRITISH SEAS. 



BEAKED WHALE. 



The common Beaked Whale, or Bottle-head {Hyperoodon rostratum, 

 Chemnitz ; Hyperoodoyi biitzkopf, Lacepede), is of frequent occurrence in the 

 North Atlantic, and generally visits our shores in autumn, sometimes ascend- 

 ing the estuaries of rivers : it has been taken several times at the entrance to 

 the river Ouse. It is solitary in its habits, more than two being never met with 

 in the same place, and in that case it is often the old female and her young 

 one : the old male is said to be very shy and rarely secured. In September, 

 1877, an adult female, 24 ft. long, was taken in the Menai Straits ; it was 

 accompanied by another, probably its young one. Capt. Feilden met with 

 what he believes to have been this species, just within the Arctic Circle ; 

 " each emission of breath was accompanied by a stentorian grunt, which 

 closely resembled that of an elephant."* 



The colour is black above, the under parts being lighter : the two teeth in 

 the lower jaw are generally hidden in the gum. Its food consists of cuttle- 

 fish, the remains of great numbers of which have been found in its stomach. .. 



broad-fronted beaked whale. 



Another species of Hyperoodon, for which the name H. latifrons has been 

 proposed, is by some supposed to exist. Scarcely anything is known about 

 it as a species. " The principal distinctive characters of the skull lie in the 

 great raised crests of the maxillary bones, which are very much thickened 



Zoologist, 1S7S, p. 319. 



M 



