DOLPHINS. 
357 
cessive days, traversed by a company of Dolphins, 
or, as the fishermen called them, Porpesses, They 
went rolling on, one after the other, very leisurely ; 
keeping, when I observed them, which was at about 
sun-rise, in a line with a stretch of ripples that gave 
their thread-like motion to the surface from the 
upper to the lower end of the harbour, along the 
otherwise smooth-glazed waters. The fishermen de- 
scribed them as going to the upper end of the har- 
bour to feed on the Mullet fry, just now very abun- 
dant there, and as not quitting them till they had 
stored their stomachs for the day. I thought their 
taking the wind was a very noticeable incident, and 
determined to set it down as something characteristic 
that had come under my own observation. I should 
have liked, however, to have ascertained, by repeti- 
tion, whether it can be considered a trait of instinct 
or not. The fishermen of Ray’s- town were hawling 
in a seine of prodigious dimensions at the time. 
This part of the harbour is shoal, and the nets are 
laid out far from the shore, being drawn in to land 
with a full mile of outward rope. The Porpesses 
crossed the lines of the seine, and, though they did 
not seem to regard the nets or the congregated 
swimmers within their sweep, their traverse had so 
frightened away the fish, that the hawl was altogether 
unproductive. The fishermen say they have occa- 
sionally caught them entangled, but are best con- 
tented when they never come near them, as they are 
altogether unmarketable prizes.” 
