32 
CETACEANS. 
majority of such specimens, according to Sir W. H. Flower, are solitary and gener¬ 
ally young individuals, although occasionally an adult female with her offspring is 
taken. The best account of the habits of the bottlenose is given by Captain D. Gray, 
of which the following is a summary. In the early spring these whales are to be met 
with occasionally after leaving the Shetland Islands, and thence northward to the 
borders of the polar ice, where they are more numerous. They also frequent the seas 
around Iceland, Greenland as far north as latitude 77°, Western Spitzbergen, and 
Davis Strait, and it is highly probable that they may range as far as Novaia 
Zemlia. Although they do not venture in among the ice itself, they frequent the 
open bays along its margin for the shelter thus afforded from the open sea. They 
are generally to be found in herds comprising from four to ten individuals; but 
many different herds may be in sight at the same time. The adult males are 
frequently solitary; but sometimes one of them may be seen leading a herd. 
These whales exhibit little fear of ships, swimming around them, and beneath the 
boats, till their curiosity is satisfied. The herd remain around a wounded com¬ 
panion till its death, upon which they immediately desert. If, however, a second 
individual be harpooned before the death of the one first struck, and this process 
continued, a whole herd may be killed at once. They exhibit great endurance of 
wounds and tenacity of life, old males taking out from three hundred to four 
hundred, and occasionally as much as seven hundred, fathoms of line. Captain Gray 
describes their activity as very great, stating that they are able to leap out of the 
water many feet high in the air, and while so doing have time to turn their heads 
