228 



MAMMALIAN NOTES. 

 Sperm Whale stranded at Grimsby in 1563.— [We are indebted 



to Mr. J. Hopkin, of Great Grimsby, for the following extract. — Eds,] 



Description of a large Fish di-iveit on shore at Great Grimsby in 1563. — 



* In the monthe of Decernbr 1563 was drevyn on y® shore at Grymsby in Lyncolne- 

 ' shire a great & monsterus fysh being in length xix yerdes his tayle 15 fete brode 



' & the length of 6 yerdis betwene his 2 eyes he had in his 2 lowar 



'Jawes 92 tethe & none aboffe Euery tothe weyed i lb & I oz in the rofe of 

 ' his mouthe he had a harp with a string naturally his heygth could not be then 

 ^ desernyd for that he lay so depe in the sande there might walke in a ranck 3 men 

 ' betwen rib & rib & robrt pinder habdasshr affermyd that he w* other men did 

 'see 12 men stand in the mouthe of here to saue the oyle that she had & the 



* toke out of her hed more than 2 tonne of oyle There was 14 dayes before the 

 ' comyng of the sayde pinder 30 men workyng about her & were not into ye rib of 



her The townsemen of Grymsby did off 2oo£ for the oyle that was in her.' — 

 From a Book in 4to, consisting of fragments & loose papers, &c., Harl. MSS. 

 Brit. Mus. In the manuscript the ' 2 ' before ' lowar ' was inserted above the line, 

 and the hiatus shown above Isetween ' lowar ' and ' Jawes ' was occupied by a word 

 or words which appeared something like ' oljaytor,' 



[The creature being evidently a Whale, we submitted the extract to Mr. Thos. 

 Southwell, F.Z.S., of Norwich, well known as an authority on thfe cetacea, and he 

 has favoured us with the following remarks. — Eds.] 



The above extract evidently refers to a full-grown Sperm Whale {Physeter 

 macrocephaliis L. ), and is interesting as being, so far as I have been able to ascertain, 

 the first recorded specimen of this species on the British coast, although one — the 

 skull of which is preserved in the Church of Great Yarmouth in the form of a chair, 

 and for the painting of which 8s. is charged in the churchwardens' accounts in the 

 year 1606 — must have been taken within probably a few years of it. In 1577 three 

 whales of this species were taken in the Scheldt, and from that time to 1646 many 

 records of the stranding of others exist, from the Mediterranean to the coast of 

 Scotland. They were generally solitary, but occasionally in small ' schools,' the 

 former probably being old males, and the latter females. In recent times, however, 

 this species has been a very rare visitant so far north, the last instance, I believe, 

 being in July 1871, when one was stranded on the shore of the Isle of Skye. — 

 T. Southwell, Norwich, April 15th, 1885. 



Badgers and Red Deer in Upper Wensley dale. —The two 



Badgers {Meles taxus) let off months ago in Clough Wood, Fossdale, by Lord 

 Wharncliffe, are there still, and were seen last week. [One of these was no doubt 

 the specimen recorded in the Naturalist for September 1884, p. 34.] Two or 

 three weeks ago there was a (semi-wild, I suppose) Red Deer {Cei-vus daphus) on 

 Stags Fell, ranging about the high moorland of Shunnor Fell and over into 

 Fossdale. Query, was this a stray animal from Martindale Moors ? — F. Arnold 

 Lees, Hawes, Wensleydale, February 2nd, 1885. 



Badgers in Nidderdale.— Since recording the last occurrence of the 

 Badger {Meles taxus) in Nidderdale in the April Naturalist, I have learnt that 

 a female was taken alive by Mr. Charlton of this place in 1849, which weighed 

 23 lbs. — W. Storey, Pateley Bridge, April loth, 1885. 



Badgers at North Stainley, near Bipon.— I see a notice in the 



Naturalist for February, of a Badger having been taken in a fox earth, at 

 Slenningford in this parish, in December 1883. You will, perhaps, like to know 

 that there was a second one captured here that same winter, in a steel rabbit 

 trap, set in a hedge in a farm, some distance from any covers. The latter one is 

 a splendid specimen, and has been stuffed. — R. A. Summerfield, North Stainley 

 Vicarage, Ripon, February 23rd, 1885. 



Blac]£ Bat at West Hartlepool. — A Black Rat was caught in Messrs. 

 E. Whitley & Co.'s shipyard, West Hartlepocl, on the 9th of March, 1885, and 

 forwarded to the Clifton Zoological Gardens. — R. Morton Middleton, JUN., 

 Hudworth Cottage, Castle Eden, Co. Durham, April i6th, 1885. 



Naturalist, 



