Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/74

48 heard the sort of long-drawn sighs which these mighty beasts made in breathing, and the young ones were said to have been heard to cry with a mewing sound. Some of the cows gave birth in their death agony to poor little calves, and very few, old or young, lived more than a quarter of an hour after their final stranding. Some died quietly, others beat the sand and water with their tails, dyeing the water with blood; the children, not realizing the calamity of the poor monsters, were observed to be putting stones on the blow-holes of such as they could reach, delighted to see the stones blown high into the air at each expiration. The men of the settlement were engaged with ropes in trying to save the boat-pier from destruction by the furious strokes of the tails of a couple of Whales who had got alongside it to die.

"By the evening, after that tide had ebbed, there were five Whales afloat only, out of more than 500 that had been afloat that morning, and by next morning only three were to be seen, and they swam round and round for a while, and then, as is if disdaining to live when all their companions were dead, in company they made straight for the beach, and in a few moments they also had passed for ever out of the scheme of existence. Unfortunately for the world at large, all this loss of life benefited nothing but the sea-birds and the pigs of the settlement. Circumstances made it impossible to use the blubber. Some of the bodies have been burnt; they burn like a great oil-shed. The spring tides fortunately floated others up and down and dispersed them, otherwise the stench would have been unbearable.

"As for the cause of this catastrophe among the Whales, my friend Mr. Felton, who manages the estate, thinks that the school got into the bay of San Salvador and lost their way in its ramifications, and could not get suitable food, and became delirious from starvation, thus committing suicide. He dissected some of them, and found both stomach and intestines empty; but, against this theory, they all had about two inches of blubber all over them, and therefore had not wasted very much.

"These Whales were from thirty feet to four feet long. The four-feet ones were just born. They were of all ages and sexes. They had small, sharp-cutting teeth in each jaw, and a very large tongue; the head was not very large, certainly not more than a seventh of the body length."

we go to press news has been received of the burning of the residence of Mr. John Harvie Brown, and the total destruction of his valuable Natural History collection. We desired to record "Museum Notes," but deeply regret that this should prove to be the first contribution. We not only express our sympathy with Mr. Harvie Brown, on such a more than personal loss, but feel that British zoologists will universally deplore the catastrophe.