In appearance these whales are the most attractive of all the cetaceans.  They are rarely over twenty feet in length, more commonly fifteen, of a pure creamy color, sometimes shaded with a blue tint, but in the dark water they appear perfectly white, perhaps by contrast, and seem the very ghosts of whales, darting about, or rising suddenly, showing only the rounded, dome-shaped head.

The Beluga is a toothed whale, in contradistinction to those that are supplied with the whalebone-like arrangement that characterizes the right whales:  consequently its food consists of fish and perhaps squid.  To enable it to capture such prey it must be endowed with remarkable powers of speed.  The motor is the great horizontal tail, powerful strokes of which force the animal; through the water and enable it to leap high into the air in its gambols.  The pectoral fins are small and of little use in swimming.  The head is the most remarkable feature.  It is the only instance in this group of animals where this organ appears at all distinct from the body.  By viewing the creature in profile, a suggestion of neck may be seen, and it is claimed that there is more or less lateral motion,—­that the head can be moved from side to side to a limited extent.  The outlines of the face are shapely, the forehead rising in a dome-like projection and rounding off in graceful lines, so that the head resembles to some extent that of our common Balaena Cisarctica.

In their movements the Belugas are remarkably active, and are very playful, —­leaping into the air in their love-antics, rolling over and over, chasing each other, and displaying in many ways their wonderful agility.  They often follow vessels in schools of forty and fifty, and old whalers claim that they utter a whistling sound that can be heard distinctly above the water.  The young, sometimes two, but generally one, are at first brown in color, later assuming a leaden hue, then becoming mottled, and finally attaining the cream-white tint of the adult.  The calves are frequently seen nursing,—­the mother lying upon the surface and rolling gently.

The Beluga has a wide geographical range, being found upon our northern and northwestern shores in great numbers.  Their southern limit seems to be the St. Lawrence, and in search of food they venture up this river beyond the mouth of the Saguenay, and often in water but little over their own depth.  On the western coast they also enter the great rivers, and have been captured up the Yukon seven hundred miles from its mouth.  In their columnar movements they somewhat resemble the porpoise,—­long processions being frequently seen, composed of three in a row, perhaps led by a single whale.