WHALES LANDED AT SCOTTISH WHALING STATIONS J 



feet long, with a girth of 12 feet, and three females 19, iS, 

 and 16 feet long, with girths, respectively, of 12, 12, and 

 II feet. All four were taken in June 191 2. 



The great majority of British specimens, as is well known 

 (and as William Thompson remarked so long ago as 1840), 

 have occurred on our coasts in autumn, especially in August 

 and September, this being the time of their southward 

 migration. A smaller number have occurred in late winter 

 and early spring. The Bottlenose occurs on the Norwegian 

 coasts, according to Collett, at the same seasons as with us ; 

 at Faroe it is found in autumn, chiefly in September, but 

 neither in winter nor in spring : the general trend of its 

 annual migration to the northward as far as the edge of the 

 ice in summer, and southward again to warm Atlantic waters 

 in winter is simple and plain. Besides cuttlefish, which 

 would seem to be its chief and favourite diet, it also feeds 

 largely on herrings; and Collett records (for instance), on 

 the authority of Captain Lauenborg, an occasion (ist August 

 1884) when many hundreds of these whales were seen 

 gathered together off Cape Langenes in Iceland, at a time 

 when the water was " filled full of herrings." 



Bibliographical Notes. 



1. Collett, R. ^" Nogle Meddelelser om Naebhvalen {Hyperoodoii), 



etc.," Bergcns Mi/s. Aarbog, vi., No. 6, pp. 1-16, 1906. 



2. Flower, Sir W. "Qn the Whales of the genus Hyperoodo?i,'' 



Proc. Zool. Soc, 1882, pp. 722-726. 



3. Gray, Captain David." Notes on the Characters and Habits of the 



Bottlenose-whale," Proc. Zool. Soc., 1882, pp. 726-731. 



4. MUNSTERHJELISI, L. " Anteckningar om Hyperoodon rosfratus 



(Miill.) gjorda under en ishavsresa sommaren 1910," Troms'6 

 Mus. Aarsheffcr, xxxvii., p. i, 19 14. 



5. Thompson, W. "Note on the Occurrence of the Bottlenosed 



Whale on the Coast of Ireland, etc," Attn. Mag. Nat. Hist., iv., 

 p. 375, 1840. 



6. Turner, Sir W. " On the Occurrence of the Bottlenosed or 



Beaked Whale in the Scottish Seas," Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edin., 

 ix'., p. 25, 1885-SS. 



