DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 



i8i 



The impression of a general movement towards the east is borne out in some measure 

 by examination of the directional data, which are summarized, in the manner already 

 explained (p. 175), in Figs. 3 and 4. If the monthly records of direction shown in these 

 figures are resolved into their components along the four cardinal points of the compass 

 the results are as shown in Table X. 



Table X 



It will be seen that in each species the highest number of components is in an easterly 

 direction. In Fin whales there is also a strong northerly component, whereas in Blue 

 whales the southerly component is more pronounced than the northerly. 



In all the data hitherto discussed a very close correspondence has been found between 

 the two species of whale. They concentrate in the same areas, and their movements in 

 any season, as determined from monthly records of capture, are usually very much the 

 same. But in these directional data differences between the two species are apparent. 

 The most noteworthy difference is in the records for the earlier months of the season, 

 in which Fin whales were observed to be moving towards the north, while Blue whales 

 were moving east. In this respect the records for both species show a marked degree of 

 consistency. 



For this unexpected result we are not able to offer any satisfactory explanation. It 

 might be thought that movements at the beginning of the season would afford an 

 indication of the direction from which whale stocks arrive on the South Georgia grounds. 

 The general inference from other data would be that they arrive from the west, and the 

 strong easterly movement of Blue whales in the early months is in agreement. But it is 

 very difficult to believe that Fin whales arrive from the south. The majority of them have 

 almost certainly passed the winter in warmer waters to the north. If they reach South 

 Georgia from the south, they must first have visited the South Orkney Islands : it seems 

 most improbable that they would take so circuitous a route, and if they had done so we 

 should expect to find that the whalers killed them on the south side of the island at the 

 beginning of the season. The strange difference in recorded movement between the two 

 species is thus unexplained, and it appears probable that the direction from which the 

 schools arrive on the whaling grounds is not to be ascertained from these records. 



