716 SECRETS OF ANIMAL LIFE 
hour; and the creature is fond of lying quietly 
on the surface, perhaps asleep. Mr. Allen quotes 
an old story of the Mayflower’s encounter in Cape 
Cod Bay. ‘‘ We saw daily great whales, of the best 
kind for oil and bone, come close aboard our ship, 
and in fair weather swim and play about us. There 
was once one, when the sun shone warm, came and 
lay above water, as if she had been dead, for a good 
while together, within half a musket shot of the 
ship; at which two were prepared to shoot, to see 
whether she would stir or no. He that gave fire first 
his musket flew in pieces, both stock and barrel; 
yet, thanks be to God, neither he nor any man else 
was hurt with it, though many were there about. 
But when the whale saw her time she gave a snuff, 
and away.” The blowing or breathing-out of hot 
air occurs half a dozen or more times in rapid 
succession, and the “spout,” consisting of water- 
vapor condensed into drops, plus, it may be, a 
little spray carried up by the nose-opening blast, 
may rise to a height of fifteen feet. Since Aristotle 
did not think of a whale as a fish, Milton was not 
very happy with his “ And at his gills draws in, 
and at his trunk spouts out, a sea.” After a longer 
or shorter period of forceful breathing the whale 
dives (almost perpendicularly, so that the flukes 
are the last parts seen), and may remain under 
water for ten to twenty minutes. The Right Whale 
is a dainty feeder as far as quality goes, for it de- 
pends mainly on small crustaceans. These are en- 
gulfed in the yawning cavern of the mouth, strained 
