SWORDFISH. 
147 
montli of August, 1861, near Westra, one of the northernmost 
islands of the Orkneys, an individual of the smaller species of 
Whales, known as the Herring Hog, was attacked by a 
Swordfish; and when thus compelled to leap out of the water, 
which it did to the height of six feet, it was observed that 
the sword had been thrust into the Whale’s body behind the 
pectoral fins. Its leaps continued, and then it was perceived 
that a Thrasher was assailing it on the sides. The Whale 
appeared as if near death as the three passed near the boat 
in which the observers were. 
If the usual incitement of appetite he supposed in this case, 
it can only have been gratified with blood; for the Swordfish 
has no teeth to tear the flesh, and, from the structure of its 
mouth, the food can only be swallowed whole. Dr. Fleming 
found the remains of Cuttles (SepiesJ in its stomach; and, 
besides these, it has been known to feed on small fishes. Oppian 
says that it eagerly devours the Ilippuris, which we suppose 
to be the species of Coryphcena at this time so named; and 
Captain Beechy, in his voyage to the Pacific Ocean, mentions 
an instance in which a Swordfish (perhaps not the European 
species) made an attack on the tin case in which a thermometer 
was let down into the sea, but it did not succeed in carrying 
it off. 
It becomes still more difficult to imagine a cause for the 
angry feelings of the Swordfish, when we discover that in this 
persecution of the Whale, the attack is shared by a fish with 
which it does not appear to possess any similarity of feeling 
or habits. Yet the strange contest has been witnessed in many 
instances, where the Thrasher (Shark) has put forth all its 
powers of exciting terror, while the Swordfish has carried on 
its more formidable warfare, by rushing at and piercing deeply 
its giant victim — even to the death. 
But the Swordfish is not always on the conquering side; 
and I possess a memorandum, from the mouth of a sailor who 
watched with interest the anxious motions of one, which he 
supposed to be eight or nine feet in length, as it was followed 
closely and rapidly in all its turnings, by a Blue Shark. Twice 
did it leap above the surface to escape the near approach of 
its pursuer, but with what success at last the observer had 
no opportunity of knowing. 
