WHALES AND PORPOISES 21 



is not as easy, as in the case of land mammals, to definitely 

 include this or that species of whale in the British fauna. Some 

 species not yet recorded as British may occasionally enter our 

 waters within the three-mile limit. In the case of others, their 

 being stranded on British shores after some storm may be the 

 result of a special accident, such as that which occasionally drives 

 North American species of birds to Ireland or Scotland. Up to 

 the present time, however, the species enumerated and described 

 below have been identified in British waters — that is to say, within 

 the three-mile limit — or have been stranded on British coasts. 



Sub-order: ODONTOCETI. TOOTHED WHALES 



Family: DELPHINIDM. DOLPHINS AND PORPOISES 



Monodon monoceros. The Narwhal 



The Narwhal, or Sea Unicorn, has been recorded at least 

 three times within British limits since the middle of the seven- 

 teenth century : once near the island of May (Firth of Forth, 

 Scotland), another time in the Shetland Islands, and on a third 

 occasion off the coast of Lincolnshire (shores of the Wash).^ 

 The narwhal, in its present distribution, is almost entirely 

 confined to the Arctic regions. It is a smallish whale, not 

 known to exceed 15 ft. in length, turning nearly if not quite 

 white when old, but usually with the upper surface of the body 

 mottled or spotted in dark or light gray on a whitish ground, 

 with the under side entirely white. This creature is famous for 

 its extraordinary tusk. The head Is very round, without any 

 projecting beak. The foetus of this animal has numerous teeth 

 in the jaws, like those of other dolphins ; but none of these 

 teeth, as a rule, reach maturity, with the exception of one or 

 two in the front of the upper jaw. In the female narwhal 

 these two tusk-like teeth are quite small, and do not project 

 beyond the jaw, but in the male on one side (usually the left), 

 the tooth develops into an extraordinarily long, spirally twisted 



^ But there are fossil remains of the narwhal, dating from a period just 

 prior to the Glacial periods, found on the north coast of Norfolk. 



