The _flesh_ of the dolphin is hard and insipid, yet it was formerly in repute as food even in this country. We are informed by Dr. Caius, that a dolphin which was caught, in his time, at Shoreham, in Sussex, was sent to the Duke of Norfolk, who had part of it roasted and served up at table with a sauce made of the crumbs of white bread mixed with vinegar and sugar. The _tongue_ of the dolphin is said to be very agreeable to the taste, and to be in every respect delicate eating. The _fat_, which, as in other cetaceous animals, lies, for the most part, immediately beneath the skin, is not in great abundance. It is to be remarked that seamen give the name of dolphin to another kind of animal, the DORADO (_Coryphæna hippuris_). The latter, however, is a genuine species of fish, and not, like the present, a warm-blooded and mammiferous animal. 122. _The PORPESSE_ (Delphinus phocæna) _is a cetaceous animal, six or seven feet in length, with a somewhat conical body, a row of pointed teeth in each jaw, a single spiracle near the top of the head, a broad fin about the middle of the back, and a short and bluntish muzzle._ _Its colour is bluish black above, and white beneath, and the skin is bright, smooth, and soft to the touch._ _These animals are found in the Baltic sea, near the coasts of Greenland and Labrador, in all parts of the Atlantic, and even in the Pacific Ocean._ In most of their habits the porpesses have a near resemblance to the dolphin, but they are not so active. They generally associate in troops of from six or seven to thirty and upwards in number, and feed on fish of all kinds, but particularly on such as swim in large shoals, as mackerel, herrings, and the different species of the cod. In proportion to the size of their body, porpesses yield a great quantity of excellent _oil_; but from the difficulty there is in catching them, in sufficient number to repay the labour, they are seldom thought worth pursuing. The _flesh_, as well as that of the dolphin, was formerly in great estimation in England. Among the provisions for the celebrated inthronization feast of George Neville, Archbishop of York, in the reign of Edward the Fourth, are enumerated no fewer than twelve porpesses and seals. These animals, however, are now entirely neglected with us as food; yet the inhabitants of Greenland and Lapland consider the flesh of the porpesse as highly excellent. The former even eat the _fat_, the _entrails_, and the _skin_; but they seldom cook the flesh till its hardness is destroyed by long keeping. The Americans use the _skins_ (dressed in a peculiar manner) for making waistcoats and breeches; they also form them into an excellent covering for carriages. ---- CLASS II.--BIRDS. ---- ORDER I.--ACCIPITRES, OR RAPACIOUS BIRDS.