The Annals 



of 



Scottish Natural History 



NO. 73] 1910 [JANUARY 



WHALING IN SCOTLAND FOR 1909. 

 By R. C. HALDANE, F.S.A. (Scot.). 



THE only return I have got this year is from Herr Carl 

 Herlofsen of the Bunaveneader station, Harris. I am sorry 

 to say that he writes that the Sperm cow-whale reported 

 to have been caught in 1905 was a mistake ; it should have 

 been marked as a bull instead of a cow. This, to me, is 

 disappointing, as it just leaves us where we were, that cow 

 Sperms do not come to northern latitudes. Where do they 

 stay, and why are the young bulls driven by some impulse 

 to see the world ? The bulls got off the Scottish coast are 

 invariably small, seldom exceeding 58 feet in length, the 

 largest being the Norrona bull of 68 feet got in 1903, and 

 the Bunaveneader bull of the same size in 1906. Judging 

 from what Beale says, I fancy the big bulls keep with the 

 cows, and the young bulls travel for some reason of their 

 own, and get into colder and more invigorating latitudes. 



The results of the whaling from Bunaveneader station 

 are, as usual, very interesting from the variety of whales 

 got there : 



B. sibbaldii . 17 bulls, averaging 72.9 feet. 



Do. . 13 cows, ,, 68.2 



B. musculus . 54 bulls, ,, 58.7 ,, 



Do. 59 cows, 57.8 



73 B 



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