300 
NOTES ON THE WHALES OP NORFOLK. 
I. 
NOTES ON THE WHALES OF NORFOLK. 
By Arthur H. Patterson. 
Read 26 th September , ign. 
Unlike the movements of birds and fish generally into 
Norfolk, or into its adjacent waters, which may be regarded 
more or less as periodical events, the appearances of 
Cetaceans, with the exception of Porpoises and, may be, 
White-beaked Dolphins, are eminently of a sporadic or of 
an accidental nature. The Porpoise may be regarded as a 
regular visitor, following the herring-shoals fairly consistently; 
indeed, it might be said to be a resident species, as it is 
noted pretty well all the year round ; and from very small 
examples that have been met with, it may be safely said 
to breed off our coasts. 
The occasional stranding of large Whales upon our 
beaches is always a matter of casualty, following, as a rule, 
some misadventure to the animals themselves, and is always 
a source of some annoyance to those who are responsible for 
their removal or disposal. Unfortunately for safe county 
records, this stranding almost invariably takes place in 
localities most unfavourable to the few naturalists who 
would be the only persons really interested in this order, 
or capable of rightly identifying the species. 
Opportunities for observing and studying the various 
species are fewer to-day than formerly, and there can be 
no doubt that the purposeful slaughter of what are known 
as Fin Whales, and Small Whales, e.g., Pilots, Beaked 
Whales, and others, by the Norwegians, who make a profit 
by extracting the oil and converting the offal into manure 
and other by-products, has tended to thin down numbers : 
