BAL.^NID.*: 15 



are quite pointed. It has no dorsal fin; usually the limbs of the 

 animal vary but little in proportion to its size. The male may 

 average thirty-five feet in length, but varies more in size than 

 the female. 



"The blubber is six to ten inches in thickness. The average 

 yield of oil is twenty barrels. The baleen,, of which the longest 

 portion is fourteen to sixteen inches, is of a light brown color, 

 the grain very coarse. 



"The California Gray Whale is only found in north lati- 

 tudes, and its migrations have never been known to extend lower 

 than 20 degrees north. It frequents the coast of California from 

 November to May. During these months the cows enter the 

 lagoons on the lower coast to bring forth their young, while the- 

 males remain outside along the seashore. The time of gestation 

 is about a year. Occasionally a male is seen in the lagoons with 

 the cows toward the end of the season, and soon after both male 

 and female, with their young, will be seen working- their way 

 northward, following the shore so near that they often pass 

 through the kelp near the beach. It is seldom that they are seen 

 far out at sea. This habit of resorting to shoal bays is one in 

 which they differ strikingly from other whales. 



"In summer they congregate in the Arctic Ocean and Ok- 

 hotsk Sea. It has been said that this species of Whale has been 

 found off of the coast of China and about the shores of Formosa, 

 but the report needs confirmation. In October and November 

 the California Gray Whales appear off the coast of Oregon and 

 Upper California, on their way back to their tropical haunts,, 

 making a quick, low spout at long intervals ; showing themselves 

 very little until they reach the smooth lagoons of the lower 

 coast, w^here, if not disturbed, they gather in large numbers, 

 passing into and out of the estuaries, or slowly raising their col- 

 losal forms midway above the surface, falling over on their sides^ 

 as if by accident and dashing the water into foam and spray about 

 them. At times, in calm weather, they are seen lying in the 

 water quite motionless, keeping one position an hour or more. 



