THE NARWHAL.
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The narwhal, or sea unicorn, is a very singular creature, which has a single tusk, or horn, as it is called, instead of teeth. Sometimes two tusks are produced, but generally there is only one, and that is usually found on the left side. The tusk or horn has usually spiral markings, and the ivory of which it is composed is even better than that of the elephant. There is another curious creature, nearly allied to the narwhal, called the Aodon, which has a sharply-pointed beak like a bird.
Of the true whales, one of the most curious is the cachalot, or sperm whale. This creature is seventy or eighty feet long, and its head is so large, that it is generally supposed to be about a third of the whole body. The cavity in the upper part of this enormous head is divided into cells filled with oil, which is fluid when the animal is alive, but which, after death, becomes what we call spermaceti. The blubber or fat on the breast of a large whale of this kind is about fourteen inches thick, but it is somewhat thinner in the other parts of the body. This fat, when melted down, yields what is generally called sperm oil. The throat of this whale is generally large enough to swallow the body of a man, and in this respect it is very different from the Greenland whale, the throat of which is so remarkably small, that it is generally said it would be choked by a penny roll. According to Mr. Beale, in his Observations on the Natural History of the Sperm Whale, "the peculiarity of this whale, which strikes every beholder, is the unwieldy bulk of the head; but this, instead of being an impediment, is conducive to its agility, for the greatest part of it containing oil, the head receives a tendency to rise so far above the surface, as to elevate the blow-hole for the purposes of respiration; and should the animal wish to increase its speed to the utmost, the narrow lower portion of the head, which bears some resemblance to the cutwater of a ship, is the only part exposed to the resistance of the water; and it is thus enabled to press its ponderous way, with the greatest ease, along the ocean."
The sperm whale is distinguished from its congeners by its blowing. If the water is smooth, the first part observed is the hump, projecting two or three feet above the surface. At very regular intervals of time, the snout emerges, at the distance of about forty or fifty feet from the hump; and from the extremity of the snout a jet is thrown up, which, when seen from a distance, appears thick, low, bushy, and perfectly white. This kind of whale has several peculiar motions, one of which is what is called sweeping; and it consists in moving the tail slowly over the surface of the ocean, as if feeling for any object that might be near. Another is the mode which it has of rolling over and over on the surface of the water, particularly after it has been harpooned, in which case it will sometimes coil an amazing length of rope around it; but one of its most surprising feats is leaping completely out of the water, a practice which is often attended by dangerous results to those around. The way in which this is effected is by the whale descending to a certain depth in the water, and then making several powerful strokes with its tail, so as to impart a great velocity to its body before it reaches the surface, when it darts completely out of the water. It sometimes does this two or three times in quick succession, upsetting the boats, and doing various other mischief in the course of its evolutions. Ambergris is sometimes found in the intestines of this whale, but the principal value of the animal arises from the spermaceti found in its head.
THE GREENLAND WHALE.
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The Greenland or common whale varies from sixty to a hundred feet in length. Its head is very large, and its mouth, instead of teeth, contains two extensive rows of baleen, commonly called whalebone, which are suspended from the upper jaw and sides of the mouth. The plates are generally curved longitudinally, and give to the roof of the mouth the form of an arch. They enclose the tongue between their lower extremities, and are themselves covered by the lower lip. There are upwards of 300 of these plates on each side of the jaw; they are longest in the middle, whence they gradually diminish away to nothing both in front and behind. The tongue is incapable of protrusion; and the throat is remarkably narrow, not exceeding an inch and a half in width. The colour of the true whale is mostly velvet black, with white in some parts underneath, and a tinge of yellow. The blubber, constituting the most valuable part of the animal, forms a complete wrapper round the whole body from eight to ten inches thick under the skin, or rather forming the inner coating of the skin.
The Greenland whale is frequently seen on the surface of the water, apparently asleep, but when attacked it sinks rapidly. "Mr. Scoresby has observed a whale descending, after it had been harpooned, to the depth of a quarter of a mile, at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour. When not attacked, however, whales swim slowly, seldom exceeding four miles an hour. Sometimes they leap entirely out of the water, and sometimes they throw themselves into a perpendicular position, with their heads downwards, and, waving their tremendous tails high in the air, beat the water with awful violence, the sound reverberating to the distance of two or three miles." This is called lob-tailing, and it frequently occasions tremendous destruction among the boats. Whales never remain in the water longer than twenty minutes, and seldom more than ten, without rising to the surface to breathe; and when they rise, they generally blow eight or nine times, the head remaining above the surface about two minutes.
The manner in which these enormous creatures are fed, may well be called one of the wonders of creation. They have no teeth, and hence they cannot prey on other animals of their own kind, or on fishes, and the throat is so narrow, that they would be suffocated if any large object were to enter the mouth. Hence they have been mercifully provided with their whalebone strainers, which only permit shrimps and other small Crustacea, on which the whale generally feeds, to enter. "When the whale wishes to feed, it swims with considerable velocity below the surface, with its jaws widely extended. A stream of water consequently enters its mouth, and along with it large quantities of minute crustaceous and molluscous animals; the water flows out again at the sides, but the food is entangled with the baleen or whalebone, which, from its compact arrangement and thick internal covering of hair, does not allow a particle to escape, even of the size of the smallest grain." These whales are generally found either solitary or in pairs, except in particular situations, or where there is a great abundance of food.
There are several other kinds of whale, but those which have been mentioned are the most important. Before, however, concluding the account of these remarkable creatures, it may be well to revert to a few of their peculiarities, particularly to the difference between them and fish. Fish are produced from spawn, and after the lapse of weeks or months, emerge from their slimy beds of weed or gravel, where they had long lain neglected by their oblivious parents, who never notice their young: "but whales are brought alive into the world, and the cub is nourished for months by its mother's milk, and disports itself around her in playful affection, gambolling through the green translucent sea, like the fawn or the lambkin rejoicing in their sunny glades." Fish, again, are cold-blooded, while the blood of the cetacea is warm; and, finally, fish never breathe, and if removed from the water and brought into the air, they soon die, whereas the cetacea, if deprived of air by being kept below the surface of the water, would soon be literally drowned. It may seem odd to talk of drowning a whale, but if a weight were tied round it so as to prevent it from rising to the surface to breathe, it might be as easily drowned as a dog. The manner in which the fat is disposed between the body and the skin is admirably suited for creatures destined to spend the greater part of their lives in seas partially covered with ice; as the fat, being a bad conductor of heat, prevents the warmth of the body from escaping, and the creature from being chilled in places where any other warm-blooded animal, not provided with such a covering, would perish from cold. As the cetacea, though they are obliged to breathe in the open air, feed below the water, they are provided with a peculiar kind of windpipe, so that the creature may breathe when its mouth is full of water without there being any danger of the water rushing with the air into the chest. In short, it is impossible to contemplate these wonderful and enormous creatures without being tempted to exclaim with the Psalmist, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all." "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep."
CHAPTER II. BIRDS.
Birds may be scientifically defined as vertebrated oviparous, or egg-producing, animals, covered with feathers and organised for flight. The bill supplies the place of lips and teeth; the organs of smell and hearing are perfect; and the eyes, which are generally very keen, are protected by a membrane which serves instead of eyelids. The birds of prey have remarkably strong thick legs, furnished with claws, and they have generally a curved bill which possesses great strength. The birds which are intended for rapid flight have small light bodies and very slender legs, but they have powerful wings. Those which live on fish have long slender legs and long necks to enable them to wade in the water and take their prey without wetting their bodies; and those which are regularly aquatic fowls are furnished with webbed feet, which act as paddles and enable them to swim on the surface of the water. In short, the adaptation of every creature to the situation it is designed to fill is as beautifully shewn in birds as in animals; and when we notice the variety of form and plumage which has been given to these creatures, and see how distinctly the peculiar properties of each kind are preserved through all these changes, we cannot fail to be forcibly impressed with awe and admiration at the wisdom and beneficence of that Almighty Being who has formed both the vulture and the dove.
BIRDS OF PREY.
The raptorial birds, or birds of prey, are all furnished with a strong sharply-pointed beak, which is always hooked at the extremity of the upper bill. Their legs, which are rather short, are very strong, and their feet have four toes, furnished with strong, sharp, curved claws, with which the creature can take hold of anything when he is tearing it to pieces with his beak. All these birds live on animal food, and they generally prefer living prey. They are still more fierce than the beasts of prey, and their powers of flight are as remarkable as their strength. Their forms are often graceful, and their eyes particularly brilliant; but their voices are generally harsh and unmusical. They are divided into two kinds, which are called diurnal and nocturnal, according to the time at which they take their flight.