240 WHALES AND DOLPHINS 



are carried for a little less than a year ; the exact period is not 

 known. The largest foetuses recorded measured 16 feet 5 inches 

 and 16 feet 9 inches, and Scammon calculates the length at 

 birth to be about a quarter of the length of the parent animal. 

 He describes also how the calf suckles, " by holding the teat 

 between the extremity of the jaws or lips while the mother 

 reclines a little on one side, raising the posterior portion of her 

 form nearly out of water and lying in a relaxed condition. 

 This peculiar manner of suckling the young appears to be 

 common to all the whalebone whales ". It is believed by one 

 authority that the Humpback females become pregnant every 

 year, and that pairing takes place again about a month after 

 parturition. If this is so the Humpback differs from the other 

 whalebone whales whose cycle has been studied, for in the 

 latter it is not usual for calves to be produced more often than 

 once in two years. 



Perhaps because the Humpback frequents inshore waters 

 more than do the large Rorquals its migrations are more 

 certainly known, but in addition it is so regular in its occurrence 

 that, to quote the whaling authority. Risting, " If the whalers 

 have found a station from which it can be hunted on its course 

 it is easier to shoot down and exterminate than any other 

 species " The migrations are for a definite purpose, and like 

 the Blue and Finner Whales, the animals go into warmer 

 water for breeding and into more Polar regions for feeding. 

 Off the north coast of Norway the Humpbacks are known to 

 move westwards in February and March, and at this time the 

 females are carrying large foetuses. In April and May they 

 are found along the west coast of North Africa, the females 

 being followed by newly born young. On their passage 

 northwards again their route takes them by the Hebrides and 

 Faroes and they are back again on the Finmark coast from 

 June to August. Later, towards the winter, they move 

 further eastwards 



Scammon, in his description of the distribution of the 

 Humpback on the western coasts of North and South America, 

 tells of large numbers resorting to the Gulf of Guayaqud to 

 calve, and of the whaling season being at its height during 

 July and August — presumably these were whales from the 

 south. In the north, in the Bay of Monterey, Upper California, 



