June 1903.1 On March 30, 1905, one was shot at Moreby on the Yorkshire Ouse,2
and was found dead at Cawood, fifty miles from the sea.
Habits.— White Whales are generally found in herds near the coasts of the
Arctic continents or islands. They are somewhat active Whales, and can bend
the neck in their play and movements to a greater degree than any of the smaller
Whales. I was much struck with this when watching three examples which
coursed alongside the ‘ Tunisian’ when steaming slowly down the channel of the
St. Lawrence8 in November 1903. On the surface the appearance of these
Whales was milk-white, and they could be seen for some distance under the
water, which gave to their ghost-like forms a distinct coppery tinge. They did
not appear to dive deep, perhaps ten to fifteen feet, and frequently rolled on
the surface. The spout was thin and weak, and lasted about two seconds.
White Whales seem to be active, harmless creatures, fond of sporting on the
surface of the sea like many members of the family. They like the brackish waters
in the estuaries of large rivers, and have been known to ascend the Yukon for
seven hundred miles. Their food consists of small fish, crustaceans and cephalo-
pods. The Greenland Esquimaux and the Indians of Alaska kill large numbers,
extracting the oil and drying the flesh. The Norwegians also do a considerable
trade in their skins, which are much used for the making of boot ‘ uppers,’ the
material being erroneously styled ‘ porpoise hide ’ in England. In Russia the hide
is used for reins and harness. Norwegian ships bring home yearly from three
hundred to five hundred skins of the White Whale, together with walrus hide
and ‘ horns’ of the Narwhal. They hunt in the neighbourhood of Spitzbergen,
Franz Josef Land, and Jan Mayen. Mr. Southwell tells us4 that the whaler
‘ Arctic’ brought home 600 skins to Dundee in the season 1880.
Two Whales of this species have been exhibited alive in London at the
Westminster Aquarium: the first in September 1877, and the second in May
1878. They became remarkably tame, but died soon after their arrival. Both
the Narwhal and the White Whale can make noises of a bellowing nature.
1 Trans. Nat. H ist. Soc. Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle- on- Tyne, vol. i. p. 4 (1904).
3 Mr. Thos. Southwell, who recorded this example in the Field, June 10, 1905, adds two other reported occurrences in
Scottish waters : one at Glenstrivan, Argyllshire (Times, July 11, 1904), and the other on August xi, 1904, in Loch Fyne
(Standard, August 12, 1904). In both cases the animals were only seen and not obtained.
3 The White Whale has long been known as a regular visitor to the S t Lawrence. Writing in 1703, La Houtan in his
New Voyages to North America says (p. 244): ‘ The White Porpoises are as big as oxen. They always go along with the
Current; and go up with the tide till they come at fresh water, upon which they retire with the ebb water. They are ghastly
sort of animals and are frequently taken before Quebec.'
4 Seals and Whales o f the British Seas, p. 113.
‘ This species of the Dolphin family,’ says Scammon (p, 93), ‘ is very rapid in
its motions, and its swiftness is brought into full play when in pursuit of the
numerous varieties of fishes along the sea shores or up the rapid rivers. When
making prey of such bottom fish as the flounder and halibut, it often darts in
shallows where it can hardly float; but like the California.:!Gray in this respect,
it evinces no alarm at its situation, and makes but;.' little effort to .reach a greater
depth. The White Whaley like all others of this family, is fond of gathering in
troops, yet we have observed that it generally advances in lines of seldom more
than two or three abreast, or more frequently in single file, spouting irregularly,
and showing little: of its form above water. When undulating along in this
manner, it often makes a noise at the moment of coming to the surface to respire,
which may be likened to the faint lowing of an ox, but the strain is not so
prolonged. Sometimes these animals will gambol about vessels as porpoises do ;
but at the slightest noise upon the water, or at the discharge of firearms, they
instantly disappear.’
A paper on the mammals of Siberia contributed to the ‘ Bulletin of the
American Museum of Natural History’ is thus summarised by Mr. Lydekker1:
‘ Dr. J. A. Allen quotes an account of the finding of an enormous herd of
White Whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in a “ hole” in the iee at Point Barrow,
Alaska, in 1898, of which the following (is;; a summary. News was brought to a
camp of Europeans that the White Whales had been discovered by Eskimo, who
had already killed seventy of the “ school.” When first ((discovered the hole was
about 150 yards long by 50 wide, but when Mr. Buxton, the narrator, arrived,
its dimensions had been diminished by the formation of new ice to about 60 by
20 yards, the water being about thirty fathoms in depth. At that time the bodies
of one hundred and fifty White Whales were lying on the ice, while those of
about half as many more were in the water tied to the edge of the ice. In the
open water rather more than a hundred of the Whales: were still alive. These
rose to breathe every twelve or eighteen minutes, and when at the surface took
from ten to fifteen blows, sometimes making two in swimming the length of the
hole. Only one or two seconds were occupied by the inspiration and expiration;
In rising, the front portion of the back came first tci: the surface, after which the
blowhole was exposed, when the Whales dived, exposing the flukes as they
descended. The majority rose simultaneously, and there was never an interval
of more than five or six minutes when none were visible. When the main rising
Field, April 18, 1903.