NOTES ON WHALING IN SHETLAND, 1904 69 



What I have observed this year in the stomachs of these 

 whales were kril, shrimps, herrings, 1 and, in one case, sand-eels. 

 One Finner had a piece of strong fish-bone, about four inches 

 long, at the back of the tongue. 



HUMP-BACKS (Mcgaptera), of which I examined three, 

 had fed on kril and a few shrimps. 



One SPERM WHALE, 56 feet long, was got at the 

 Alexandra station. I examined the contents of the 

 stomach, which at first have an offensive smell, but this 

 passes away, as in ambergris. The stomach contained parts 

 of a large skate, cuttle-fish beaks, the jaw-bones of an 

 Angler (Lophius\ the head of a shark 28 inches long, and 

 some pieces of blubber from B. uinsculus, seemingly 

 swallowed by the shark before the sperm whale swallowed it. 



These remarks may throw some light on the food of 

 these whales. The Finner revels when he gets among kril. 

 He swims on his side with his mouth open and swallows 

 them by the barrel-full ; but I am convinced that he only 

 takes to herrings when he cannot get his favourite kril and 

 shrimps. 



GROWTH OF B. MUSCULUS. 



I am more and more convinced that the growth of 



o 



Finner whales is very rapid, and the opinions of the 

 managers of the four whale stations in Shetland agree with 

 mine. The calf is very large when born. I am told of one 

 foetus 22 feet long, coloured like the adult, with baleen in 

 the jaws ; the length of the mother was 7 5 feet. Others have 

 found foetuses 20 feet long; so I think we may take the length 

 of the foetus at 20 feet. Lately a foetus of 16 feet was got, 

 the baleen of which had not begun to show, and the manager 

 took this as a sign that it had not completed the period of 

 gestation. The growth of the calf is very rapid. Sucking 

 calves of 40 feet have been seen, and the general opinion of 

 the Norwegians is that one of this size is not over a year old. 

 The calf is supposed to go one year with the mother before 

 it is weaned ; at from two to three years the young cow is 

 mature and ready to breed. I examined a young cow of 

 5 i feet supposed to be under two years old. The slits in 



1 The Shetland station had six whales with herrings, and Alexandra station 

 twenty-one. 



