WHALES LANDED AT SCOTTISH WHALING STATIONS 227 



fairly well with Sir William Flower's estimate. But I by no 

 means share his incredulity as to the actual existence of 

 much older and larger specimens, such as are recorded by 

 Bennett and by Beale. It is the younger bulls, or bulls of 

 moderate age, and not the very old ones, in my opinion, 

 which migrate far afield from their breeding grounds into 

 our northern waters. 



The chart (Fig. 3) shows the places of capture of our 



forty-two Sperm-whales ; and it will be seen at a glance 



that it differs markedly from the corresponding chart for the 



Nordcaper; indeed for that matter it differs from every 



16 io a 



FlG. 3. The Scottish Catch of Sperm-whales, 1908-1914. 



other case with which we shall have to deal. The majority 

 of the Sperm-whales were caught far to the westward of 

 our Scottish coasts, in the neighbourhood of St Kilda and 

 Rockall. Twenty-six out of our forty-two Sperms (or 

 62 per cent.) were captured to the westward of the meridian 

 of io W., and twenty (or 48 per cent.) to the west of 12 W. 

 Beyond the latter limit no other whales whatsoever are 

 recorded in our long list of captures; and beyond io W. 

 we have only a trifling number of Blue-whales and common 

 Finners, and a still scantier number of Sei-whales. The 

 positive evidence that here to the westward (as far as our 

 seas are concerned) is the chief habitat of the Sperm-whale 

 is clear enough; but the negative evidence of the absence 



