WHALING IN SCOTLAND 135 



Buneveneader station thirty-one, 18 bulls and 13 cows. The 



average size works out- 

 Alexandra . . Cows i, 63.0 feet. 

 Olna . : Bulls i, 52.0 feet. ,, 4, 59.4 ,, 

 Buneveneader . . ,, iS, 70.2 ,, ,, 13, 71.6 ,, 



The average girth given at Buneveneader was 31.7 feet, in both 

 sexes. This varies greatly. A cow of 79 feet being 40 feet in 

 girth ; cow of 78 feet, 41 feet; cow of 75 feet, 40 feet; cow of 80 

 feet, 38 feet. The bulls range from one of 75 x 41 feet, 77 x 41, 

 88 x 38, 80 x 42, to one of 59 x 17 feet. 



These figures are of interest as they show that in length and 

 girth Blue whales are larger than Finners. The greatest girth of 

 one of the latter given in my notes was 40 feet. 



Blue whales, as a rule, seem to frequent these seas mostly in 

 July and August. 



The baleen plates of these whales are black. The one photo- 

 graphed is 29 inches long, or 35 inches to the end of the hairs, 

 with a width of 14 inches. 



Blue whales are said not to be fish-eaters, their chief food being 

 a small grey crustacean " like sawdust." Although these are so 

 small, yet, I am informed, they can move against a seven-knot 

 current. 



In 1904 27 bulls and 15 cows were killed at Buneveneader. 

 The bulls averaged 69.7 feet, the cows 69.3 feet. The largest bull 

 was 74 feet, the largest cow 75 feet. 



PHYSETER MACROCEPHALUS. 



Of the Sperm whales or Cachalots, three bulls killed at 

 Buneveneader, the lengths of which were 49, 55, and 50 feet, if we 

 add to them the Olna bull of 58 feet, the average length is 53 

 feet. The Buneveneader cow was 5 7 feet in length. I have no 

 record of the food of these Harris whales, but in 1904 one was 

 got with a large shark hook about 9 inches long in its stomach. 

 The Olna Sperm whale had been living on small sharks, and had 

 a number of quite small cuttle-fish beaks in its stomach. 



I have already mentioned the cow Sperm whale got by the 

 Buneveneader Company. It is a fact worthy of record. 



The largest bull Sperm whale killed in Scottish waters, so far, 

 is the Norrona one of 1903, whicli was 68 feet long. The 

 Buneveneader bulls of 1904 were 55, 56, 59, 50, and 55 feet long, 

 an average of 55 feet. 



BAL^ENOPTERA BOREALIS. 



In Scotland and Shetland during the season of 1905, 34 

 Rudolphi's Rorqual were killed. The largest bull was 47 feet long, 



