212 ALLEN: NEW ENGLAND WHALEBONE WHALES. 



Mr. J. Henry Blake gives me a note of a Finback that he examined on December 4th 

 at Litchfield's dock, Boston. 



1881. — "In the spring of 1881, the whales came into the [Provincetown] l)ay again, but 

 not in so large numbers [as in 1880, see antea]. Fifteen were killed which furnished 300 barrels 

 of oil. . . . No whales have come in of late" (1887) (A. Howard Clark, in Goode's Fisheries and 

 Fishery Industries of U. S., 1887, sect. 2, p. 230). 



About the 25th of May a dead Finback, estimated as about sixty feet long was found 

 floating a few miles outside Nantucket Harbor. It finally washetl ashore near Capaum Pond 

 and since there were no tryworks at Nantucket, it was towed to Dennisport on Cape Cod 

 to obtain the oil (Nantucket Journal, vol. 3, no. 34, May 26, 1881). 



In the Museum of Comparative Zoology are the bones of a foetal Finback collected by Mr. 

 J. Henry Blake, at Provincetown about the middle of June. In a letter, accompanying the 

 specimen, and dated September 8, 1881, Mr. Blake states that fifty-seven whales were killed 

 and brought in there that spring. 



The Nantucket Journal of November 10th (vol. 4, no. 6) records that a few days previously 

 several whales were seen sporting off the south side of Nantucket. 



Professor J. S. Kingsley informs me that these whales were aljundant in Ip.swich Bay 

 in August of this year. 



1882. — A report from Gloucester, Mass., under date of May 7th, notes that "whales 

 are close to the shore" (S. J. Martin: BuU. U. S. Fish Comm., 1882, vol. 2, p. 17). No doubt 

 these were Finbacks following the schools of fish in toward shore. 



Whales, probably Finbacks, were said to have been seen in numbers about Block Island, 

 presumably in the early summer (Nantucket Journal, vol. 6, no. 42, July 17, 1884). 



According to J. F. Brown a male "Finback calf" was entangled in the net of a fish weir 

 in Provincetown Harbor, early in October, and was drowned (Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., 1883, 

 vol. 3, p. 411). The size is not given, and although the chance of its being a Little Piked Whale 

 is not excluded, yet Mr. Brown's testimony may perhaps be accepted. 



Major E. A. Mearns sends me a note of a large female Finback (said to be over 100 feet in 

 length!) that stranded on the east shore of Narragansett Pier, R. I. A cord or two of pine wood 

 and several loads of straw were required to burn it up. The exact date is unobtainable. 



1884. — About the 10th of July, according to the Nantucket Journal (vol. 6, no. 42, July 

 17, 1884), "several whales were [seen] near Block Island and on Friday a shoal of perhaps 20 

 played for hours about a mile east of the island. One of the whales was seen very closely, 

 and his length is estimated at 40 or 50 feet. Whales were quite numerous in that vicinity two 

 years ago, but only one or two were seen last year. It is stated that when whales are seen, 

 swordfishing is at its best, but the reason for this is not definitely known." Doubtless these 

 were Finbacks, in part at least. 



1885. — In early March and April, the fishermen at Gloucester reported that they had 



