RORQUALS OR FIN WHALES 235 



anterior part of the jaws and extending backwards about 

 27 inches is generally white, but frequently has grey stripes ; 

 the remainder of the baleen is greyish-black. Sometimes there 

 is asymmetry of coloration similar to that found in the Common 

 Rorqual. 



The difference in texture between the baleen of Bryde's 

 Whale and that of the Sei Whale was the reason for a lawsuit 

 several years ago. The baleen of the former species had 

 unwittingly been sent as that of the Sei Whale to a purchaser, 

 who returned it on the grounds that it was not from the species 

 of whale demanded. The suppliers had consigned it in all 

 good faith as Sei Whale baleen, but the result of the litigation 

 which ensued was that the authorities who examined the 

 baleen gave judgment in favour of the buyers. It will be seen 

 from this that even amongst experienced whaling folk there is 

 considerable difficulty in distinguishing between the Sei and 

 Bryde's Whale. 



The food of Bryde's Whale is chiefly fish, usually a variety 

 of herring, but sometimes a species of mackerel a foot or so in 

 length. Olsen comments on this whale's voraciousness, which 

 he claims to be greater than that of any other species of 

 Rorqual, and he describes how it has been seen hunting among 

 large crowds of small sharks, specimens of which more than 

 2 feet in length have been found in the whale's stomach. But 

 perhaps most astonishing of all is the record of 15 large penguins 

 having been discovered in the stomach of a Bryde's Whale. 

 Olsen suggests that the birds, the moment the whale reached 

 the surface of the water, had probably dived down into its 

 open mouth, endeavouring to catch fish in that most abundant 

 hunting-ground, and had thus themselves been involuntarily 

 captured by the whale. 



Information about breeding habits and development is 

 very scanty. Males and females are taken in about equal 

 numbers, and the widely different size of unborn young ones 

 found at approximately the same time of year suggests that 

 in this, as in other Rorquals, pairing may take place at any 

 time over an extended period. 



Bryde's Whale is commonest on the coast of Cape Colony, 

 occurs also off Natal and Angola, and has been reported at 

 Granada in the West Indies. 



