The sperm whale yields oil of a better quality than the bowhead. Its huge head always contains a considerable number of barrels of specially fine-grade oil, which produces the spermaceti of commerce. Ambergris, having an excessively high value for use in the manufacture of certain perfumes, is a product occasionally formed in the digestive tract of the sperm whale.
The name cachalot is one to conjure with. It brings up visions of three-year voyages to the famed South Seas, palm-bedecked coral islands, and idyllic days with dusky islanders. As in the case of the Greenland bowhead, however, this animal has been hunted until only a small fraction of its former numbers survives and the romantic days of its pursuit are gone, never to return.
THE LARGER NORTH AMERICAN MAMMALS
| Text page. | Illustration page. | |
|---|---|---|
| Antelope, Prong-horn | [452] | [451] |
| Badger | [420] | [419] |
| Bear, Alaskan Brown—(Frontispiece) | [441] | |
| Bear, Black | [437] | [439] |
| Bear, Cinnamon or Black | [437] | [439] |
| Bear, Glacier | [437] | [439] |
| Bear, Grizzly | [440] | [442] |
| Bear, Polar | [436] | [438] |
| Beaver, American | [441] | [443] |
| Beluga or White Whale | [468] | [470] |
| Bison, American, or Buffalo | [461] | [463] |
| Bobcat or Bay Lynx | [409] | [411] |
| Bowhead or Greenland Right Whale | [469] | [471] |
| Buffalo or American Bison | [461] | [463] |
| Cachalot, or Sperm Whale | [472] | [471] |
| Caribou, Barren Ground | [460] | [422] |
| Caribou, Woodland | [460] | [459] |
| Caribou, Peary, or Barren Ground | [460] | [422] |
| Cat, Jaguarundi, or Eyra | [413] | [415] |
| Coyote, Arizona or Mearns | [424] | [423] |
| Coyote, Mearns or Arizona | [424] | [423] |
| Coyote, Plains, or Prairie Wolf | [424] | [423] |
| Deer, Arizona White-tailed | [457] | [458] |
| Deer, Black-tailed | [456] | [455] |
| Deer, Mule | [453] | [455] |
| Deer, Virginia or White-tailed | [456] | [458] |
| Deer, White-tailed | [456], [457] | [458] |
| Elk, American | [453] | [454] |
| Eyra or Jaguarundi Cat | [413] | [415] |
| Fisher or Pekan | [444] | [446] |
| Fox, Alaska Red | [417] | [418] |
| Fox, Arctic or White | [425] | [426] |
| Fox, Cross | [417] | [418] |
| Fox, Desert | [420] | [419] |
| Fox, Gray | [417] | [419] |
| Fox, Pribilof Blue | [425] | [426] |
| Fox, Red | [416] | [418] |
| Fox, Silver | [417] | [418] |
| Fox, White or Arctic | [425] | [426] |
| Goat, Rocky Mountain | [452] | [451] |
| Jaguar | [413] | [414] |
| Lion, Mountain | [412] | [414] |
| Lynx, Bay | [409] | [411] |
| Lynx, Canada | [409] | [411] |
| Manati, Florida | [465] | [467] |
| Moose | [461] | [462] |
| Muskhog or Peccary | [448] | [447] |
| Musk-ox | [464] | [466] |
| Ocelots or Tiger-cats | [416] | [415] |
| Opossum, Virginia | [408] | [410] |
| Otter | [445] | [446] |
| Otter, Sea | [432] | [434] |
| Peccary, Collared, or Muskhog | [448] | [447] |
| Pekan or Fisher | [444] | [446] |
| Raccoon | [408] | [410] |
| Sea-elephant, Northern, or Elephant Seal | [432] | [434] |
| Sea-lion, Steller | [429] | [431] |
| Seal, Alaska Fur | [429] | [431] |
| Seal, Elephant, or Sea-elephant | [432] | [434] |
| Seal, Greenland, or Harp Seal | [433] | [435] |
| Seal, Harbor | [433] | [435] |
| Seal, Harp, Saddle-back, or Greenland | [433] | [435] |
| Seal, Leopard, or Harbor Seal | [433] | [435] |
| Seal, Ribbon | [436] | [438] |
| Seal, Saddle-back, or Harp Seal | [433] | [435] |
| Sheep, Dall Mountain | [449] | [450] |
| Sheep, Rocky Mountain | [448] | [447] |
| Sheep, Stone Mountain | [449] | [450] |
| Tiger-cats or Ocelots | [416] | [415] |
| Walrus, Pacific | [428] | [430] |
| Wapiti or American Elk | [453] | [454] |
| Whale, Greenland Right or Bowhead | [469] | [471] |
| Whale, Killer | [468] | [470] |
| Whale, Sperm, or Cachalot | [472] | [471] |
| Whale, White or Beluga | [468] | [470] |
| Wolf, Arctic White | [421] | [422] |
| Wolf, Black | [423] | |
| Wolf, Gray or Timber | [421] | [423] |
| Wolf, Prairie, or Plains Coyote | [424] | [423] |
| Wolf, Timber or Gray | [421] | [423] |
| Wolverine | [428] | [427] |
SMALLER MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA
By Edward W. Nelson
Chief, U. S. Biological Survey
With illustrations in color from paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes
In that part of North America lying north of Mexico more than 1,300 species and geographic races of mammals are known to exist. Of these by far the greater number, both of species and individuals, fall into the class of smaller mammals.
Some of the most characteristic types which appear to have originated in North America are the mountain-beavers, pocket-gophers, kangaroo-rats, pocket-mice, wood-rats, white-footed mice, muskrats, skunks, and ring-tailed cats.
In Siberia and Europe live close counterparts of our northern weasels, minks, martens, field-mice, lemmings, northern hares, conies, marmots, moles, and others; and on our southern border the armadillo and the hog-nosed skunk introduce a faint tinge of a strange fauna from South America.
FURRY FRIENDS AND ENEMIES
The muskrats, minks, martens, and skunks for many years have yielded an enormous annual return from their furs; the squirrels and rabbits afford sport and a large supply of excellent flesh for food; the prairie-dogs and some of the ground-squirrels existing in enormous numbers have been excessively destructive to crops; and others, like the porcupine and the armadillo, have attracted particular attention because of their strange characteristics.