Volume 9 - Electric Scotland

66 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY
1664, which may refer to this species.
" 1660. The next
September a formidable big whale came up the Frith, and
struck upon the shores be-east Inverness a mile. It was
seventy feet I long-; was present at the measuring of it.
The debate began, whether it was upon Culloden's march or
the Town's ;
but the burgesses of Inverness seized the whale
under appreciation, John Forbes of Culloden being then at
the south. The English offered to buy her at a high rate,
and they should have got her by right, for all men concluded
the whale to be a presage of the garrison's expiration
and translation from Inverness, which happened shortly
after."
PHYSETER MACROCEPHALUS (Sperm Whale).
No record
of a Sperm Whale, except the Thurso one in 1863,
is known
to me. Sometimes the newspapers report a "Sperm Whale,"
but, when proper inquiry
is made, it generally turns out some
other species.
HYPEROODON ROSTRATA (Bottlenose). This is one of
the most abundant species, from the Moray
Firth to Shetland.
MESOPLODON BIDENS (Sowerby's Whale).
has been found four times in the Moray
This species
Firth near Nairn.
The first, in I 800, was the " type " of the species.
I think
the last two specimens found deserve more than a passingreference.
I sent a notice to the " Annals " of a male
Sowerby's Whale which was stranded near Nairn in September
1896.
I now have to record the stranding of other
two in September 1899, both females, mother and young.
The young one stranded about the spot where the male
came to grief three years before, and the mother about a
mile east of that place.
It is
very desirable that descriptions should be given of
rare mammals, as these often show curious sexual and even
individual variations, for by so doing we may be able to
prevent the species-maker giving new names to animals
which are not even well-marked varieties. A marked
departure in the colour of the belly of a whale, or even of a
mouse, has been considered by some as evidence of specific
value, though it can be proved that such departures are, in
most cases, only
" individual variations." Sowerby's type