236 



THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



and 53 per cent, of their length. There seems to be a 

 slight perceptible tendency for these whales to get fatter as 

 the season advances ; at least the September whales are 

 distinctly larger in girth than those of the earlier months, 

 as may be seen from the following table : 



Fig. 6. The Scottish Catch of Blue-whales, 1908-1914. 



As regards the place of capture, we see from our chart 

 (Fig. 6) that the great majority of the Blue-whales were 

 caught (in areas R and S) in the neighbourhood and chiefly 

 to the westward of St Kilda. A small number were got to 

 the north of Shetland. It is obvious that their chief haunt 

 is to the westward, and accordingly they are taken chiefly by 

 the station at Buneaveneader. But only three are reported 

 from farther west than io W., 1 and none from the distant 



1 These three have been accidentally omitted from our Chart (Fig. 6) ; 

 they lay immediately to the westward, on the skirts of the main body. 



