218 



ALLEN: NEW ENGLAND WHALEBONE WHALES. 



On July 21st, while crossing Massachusetts Bay by steamer, Mr. George Nelson saw 

 numbers of large whales, undoubtedly in part, at least. Finbacks. He estimated that near a 

 hundred must have been sighted between Cape Cod and Boston. Some were close at hand, so 

 that the liigh dorsal fin was clearly evident. The height of the spout he thought would aver- 

 age some ten feet. One came so close athwart the vessel's bow that her coui'se was altered 

 slightly to avoid a collision. 



1913. — Whales, some undoubtedly Finbacks, appeared in numbers off Nantucket Light- 

 ship, where on May 19th, the Captain of the Norwegian steamer Verona reported to have run 

 into a school of fifty or more, apparently working northward. There was said to have been 

 a school of whales in Cape Cod Bay in early June, possibly some of the same lot. 



In the last part of August of this year, Mr. W. W. Welch of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries 

 saw great numbers of Finbacks in the vicinity of South Shoal Lightship. 



1914. — Mr. J. Henry Blake reports seeing one in July off Marblehead. 



1915. — A school of ten Finbacks was seen close inshore from the High Head Coast Guard 

 Station, near Provincetown, on July 19th. "One of the lot, a huge fellow, came in clear to 

 the inner bar [Provincetown Harbor] and there exposed much of its body during the succeed- 

 ing quarter hour" (Provincetown Advocate, July 22, 1915). 



Seasonal Occurrence of Finback W kales, 

 {n indicates an indefinite number, or several.) 



