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Review ------ "Palin's blend of distinctive artwork and thorough research into a fascinating topic will appeal to a wide range of people." -- Birdwatching magazine "A readable and enjoyable book that I could just not put down -- superb!" -- Highland Times Read more ( javascript:void(0) ) About the Author ---------------- Steve Palin was born in Liverpool and has been a teacher all his life, for 17 years of which he was a headteacher. He has been publishing his artwork for over 25 years, often combining a love of language with illustration. His previous books include A Dissimulation of Birds, A Menagerie of Animals, and The Songs of Birds. His artwork was displayed most recently in the National Exhibition of Wildlife Art in July 2012. He lives with his wife in a village near Wrexham. Read more ( javascript:void(0) ) P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. -------------------------------------------------------- Gam of porpoises Sometimes known as the common porpoise or puffing pig on account of its sneeze-like blow when it surfaces to breathe, the illustrated harbour porpoise is not as easily seen as some of its relations. It does not readily "bow-ride" in front of sea-going craft and shows little of itself at the surface. Observers who therefore get prolonged views of it are particularly fortunate and a fleeting glimpse is more usual. Porpoises have four collective nouns associated with them (which they share with whales). Those better known include school and pod, whilst the term herd is in keeping with other semantic bovine connections such as cow, bull and calf for the female, male and young respectively. The word gam, as well as being another collective noun for porpoises and whales, has a definition as a social gathering of whalers at sea. Generally speaking, the term pod is used for smaller, perhaps family, groups whilst school or herd refers to the larger groups. The collective noun pod is also applied to hippopotamus, seals, and whiting; school to fish and herd to many creatures, but those specifically listed as herds include wrens, curlew, antelopes, asses, chamois, elephants, giraffe, goats, hares, seals and sperm whales. Porpoises, like most cetaceans, have suffered in recent times from human interference. This has been both directly in terms of hunting and also indirectly from habitat and degradation, as well as accidental capture in fishing nets. Nevertheless, the harbour porpoise is still the commonest and most widely-distributed cetacean in British waters. Read more ( javascript:void(0) ) See more ( javascript:void(0) )