WHALE WORK: MATERIAL AND DATA 



269 



Perhaps the greatest difficulty in investigating the habits of whales lies in the fact 

 that they do not conform to any definite rules. For instance there is an unmistakable 

 pairing season in winter, but it is only the season at which the maximum number of 

 pairings takes place. It appears that breeding can go on exceptionally through most, 

 though probably not all, of the year. Again, the majority of whales leave the Depen- 

 dencies in autumn on their northward migration, but there are always some to be 

 found there throughout the year. Such examples could be extended indefinitely, and 

 it is in consequence of this general irregularity that it is necessary to have a fairly 

 large bulk of material on which to base inferences about the breeding and other habits 

 of whales. The most that can be done in fact is to frame general rules about the 

 behaviour of the majority, based on the average of a large number of individuals. 



Through the courtesy of the Director of the British Museum (Natural History) we 

 have received much assistance in some cases where a specially large number of whales 

 has been required, from an examination of the Museum's statistics of the catches at 

 whaling stations. These have been compiled by Sir Sidney Harmer from the returns 

 of the whahng companies and give the date, species, sex, length and foetuses of many 

 thousands of whales caught in various localities over a number of years. Much useful 

 information is to be derived from these statistics, but their value is impaired by the 

 fact that the figures cannot always be regarded as necessarily quite accurate, especially 

 those relating to the sizes of the whales and the occurrence and lengths of the 

 foetuses. Sir Sidney Harmer has, however, made an analysis of some of these figures 

 in several reports by the British Museum to the Colonial Office on the progress of 

 the whaling industry, and further reference to his work will be made later. 



MATERIAL AND DATA 



The whales examined in the course of the work at South Georgia and South Africa 

 may be tabulated as follows : 



