158 NATURAL HISTORY [Fishes. 



leave of our seas, forced lo the northward, I suppose, by the 

 resort of shipping, which is now much greater than formerly. 

 There have been several instances of late years of their 

 driving ashore on our coast, particularly one some years ago, 

 which was thrown upon the island of Walls, measuring about 

 forty feet long, but so much spent, by driving long at sea, 

 that it gave no oil ; and how they managed the whalebone, or 

 how it turned out, I know not. Other instances there have 

 been Avhere the capture has been more valuable, though per- 

 haps not near so much so as it would have been, had the 

 fish been got in time ; for I imagine those which come here 

 are wounded ones from the Greenland seas, which drive all 

 the way hither, are half rotten, and their oil gone, before they 

 arrive. In Scotland, the admiral of the district claims all fish 

 of this kind above a certain measure. 



Species 2. — The Roimd-lipped Whale. 



Balaena tripinnis niaxillam iiifeiiorem rotundam, et superiore multo latiorein ha- 

 bens, Sib. Phal. 78. Idem. Raii Syn. Pise. l6. Ldn. Si/s. 106. 



These are seen in our seas much more frequently than the 

 others, especially about July and August, at which time the 

 sounds and sea are full of herring and mackerel, upon which 

 they feed. I saw a very ordinary representation of a fish, 

 which, about twenty years ago, had drove ashore in Hoy, and 

 which seemed one of this kind by the situation and number 



