RIGHT WHALES 207 



inner surface of the baleen blades back to the sea again ^nd 

 leaves a deposit of food within the mouth. It can be imagined 

 that many millions of " shrimps " are consumed by a single 

 whale, but such is the prodigality of the provision that great 

 numbers of the largest existing animals are sustained by feeding 

 in this way. The whales of the family we are now dealing with 

 are the most specialized for feeding on " plankton " — the 

 name given to the small current-born animals just mentioned. 

 In the Right Whale the head is very large in comparison with 

 the rest of the body, the cavity of the mouth is enormous, 

 and the area of the sieve formed by the baleen much greater 

 than in the related Rorquals. The lower jaws, too, are well 

 adapted ; U-shaped in front and raised high on either side, 

 they form an efficient scoop for gathering large quantities 

 of food into the mouth. 



Although it is probable that the Greenland Right Whale 

 may undertake small changes of location, it never migrates, 

 either for feeding or breeding, far from the ice-covered regions 

 of the Arctic. 



Scoresby states that pairing in this species is often observed 

 about the latter end of the summer, and females with " suckers " 

 or calves along with them are most commonly met with in the 

 spring of the year. " The time of their bringing forth, it is 

 presumed, is in February or March, and their per od of gestation 

 is nine or ten months." The usual number of young at a 

 birth is one, but occasionally two calves have been seen along 

 with the parent animal. The maternal affection of this 

 whale is commented on by Scoresby, but while he points out 

 that it would do honour to the superior intelligence of human 

 beings, he doe's not allow this parental regard to influence 

 him to the extent of abandoning the pursuit of the animals . 

 " The object of the adventure, the value of the prize, the joy 

 of the capture, cannot be sacrificed to. feelings of compassion." 



The phase of commercial whaling involving the pursuit 

 of the Greenland Right Whale originated from an extension 

 northwards of the search for the Biscayan Right Whale. 

 This latter, about which we shall have more to say later, had 

 been known and hunted for hundreds of years with a gradual 

 widening of the field of operation of the whaling fleets, until 

 about the beginning of the seventeenth century the whaling 



