Under the general name of Cetacea, _i.e._, the Whales, are classed
together a wonderful group of marine Mammalia, which includes not
only the true whales, but also the Dolphin, Narwhal, Porpoise, and
Grampus.
Notwithstanding their marked resemblance to fishes, the Cetacea
possess the most indubitable mammalian character.
In the cetacea the bodies are elongated, fish-like, devoid of hair,
and run out into a powerful caudal fin. The fore limbs are in the
form of fins; there are no hind limbs. The cetacea are marine
animals, and their food consists wholly of water animals and plants.
The whale is an astonishing animal, and in order that it may subsist
a number of apparently contradictory conditions must be reconciled.
It is a warm-blooded mammal, and yet spends its life wholly in cold
water. In order to dive to great depths it must be able to make its
body heavier than a corresponding bulk of water, and conversely at
will make it lighter in order to reach the surface. Though breathing
atmospheric air through nostrils, the animal can exist at a greater
depth than where the pressure of the water would force its particles
into solid oak, and yet no water can reach the whales’ lungs. It
must be able to exist without breathing at all for at least the
space of an hour. With the bones, ears, and eyes of a mammal it has
to move, hear, and see as though it were a fish.
The “spouting” or “blowing” of the whale is simply an operation of
purifying its blood. When the animal comes to the surface, it first
expels the air in its lungs as it takes its first deep breath.
=Dolphin= (_Delphinus delphis_).--The dolphin is grey or greenish black
on its upper parts, and white beneath. It generally attains a length of
six feet, and lives in herds in all the northern seas. Hundreds of these
swift animals are often seen around vessels, and amuse the passengers by
their playful gambols. They feed chiefly on fish.
=Greenland Whale= (_Balæna mysticetus_).--This whale is greyish black on
its upper parts, and white beneath. It is from forty-eight to
seventy-two feet long, and weighs upwards of twenty thousand pounds. It
is the largest of all living animals; a boat with six persons could
enter its jaws. Its tongue is nine feet broad, eighteen feet long, and
weighs about eight hundred pounds.
The whale inhabits the northern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific. It
has been hunted for the sake of its blubber since the ninth century. A
whale forty-eight feet long, and fourteen thousand pounds in weight,
will furnish six thousand pounds of blubber, from which four thousand
eight hundred pounds of oil will be obtained; there will also be over
three thousand pounds of whalebone, which lies in the upper jaw in the
place of teeth.
=Narwhal,= or =Sea Unicorn= (_Monodon monoceros_), allied to the
dolphins and porpoises. The male has one--almost invariably the left--of
the teeth or tusks in the upper jaw extraordinarily developed into a
spirally furrowed horn of pure ivory from six to ten feet long. This is
the longest tooth found in the Mammalia. The adult animal is from ten to
sixteen feet long. It has a grey back, mottled with black, the under
parts being much lighter, but also spotted. It has a blunt, short head,
no dorsal fin and very small flippers, but is very active and a rapid
swimmer. It is peculiar to the Arctic Ocean, though it occasionally
strays as far south as the British seas. The oil is valuable and the
flesh edible. The ivory is very fine, and in the castle of Rosenborg at
Copenhagen is a throne of the kings of Denmark made of this substance.
=Porpoise= (_Phocæna communis_).--The porpoise, five, six, or seven feet
in length, is common in the North Atlantic. Often off the British coasts
a shoal of porpoises may be seen frolicking quite near to the shore.
Passengers on board ocean-going liners are always interested in watching
the sportive “black pigs,” as sailors call them, race along the side of
the ship. The animals are captured chiefly for their oil, and the skin
can be converted into useful leather.
=Rorqual= (_Balænoptera musculus_).--The common Rorqual is a typical
species of the “finners,” as sailors term them; the generic name means
“Finned Whale,” in reference to the small back fin that lies near the
region of the tail. It attains an enormous size; one caught in the North
Sea was ninety-five feet in length, twenty-two feet in width, and
weighed over two hundred and fifty tons. Rorquals are the most widely
distributed of all the larger Cetaceans; they are found nearly
everywhere outside the Antarctic regions.
WHALE FISHERIES.--With the older method of whale-fishing the chief
products were oil and whalebone. Recently the industry has been
revolutionized, principally by Norwegians, and practically every part of
the animal is used. For the new method a suitable island is selected, a
cutting-up station constructed, and all whales killed are towed to the
station and there drawn upon land to be dealt with. The modern
whaling-vessel is a small and powerful steamer with a heavy harpoon gun
mounted in the bows. The harpoon is a special kind of barbed spear. No
boats are used, the steamer following the whales when sighted. By
dealing with the carcase on shore all parts are now used, including the
bone, blubber (or fat), the soft parts after the oil has been expressed
being prepared as fertilizers. The flesh is asserted to be palatable and
may ultimately be sold for food.
[Illustration: =WHITE AMERICAN EGRETS IN A SOUTH FLORIDA CYPRESS FOREST=
These are perhaps the most beautiful of the heron family and are much
persecuted by the plumage hunters for the sake of the spray-like plumes
which grow on their backs in the breeding season.]
_THE BIRDS_
The birds have a hard, bony skeleton, and red, warm blood; they breathe
by means of lungs, and lay eggs with hard shells. Their bodies are
covered with feathers, their fore limbs are changed into wings.