HUMPBACK WHALE. 301 



back are lacking, however. Rawitz (1900) supposes that the greater length of the paddles as 

 compared with those of the Finbacks is an adaptation for turning the more unwieldy and slower- 

 moving animal on its back, as it closes its jaws, but this seems unlikely. 



The Whale and Swordfish Story. — The active movements of this species, when seen by 

 the casual traveller at sea, are often mistaken for signs of a great conflict between sea monsters. 

 Thus in our daily papers of late years it has become an almost regular feature of the early 

 summer news to include a vivid account of a terrific battle viewed by the astonished passengers 

 of some incoming steamer, in which the combatants are a whale and a swordfish. The honors 

 of war are usually accorded to the latter, though occasionally the outcome is left uncertain. 

 No doubt some of these tales have a basis of fact, and though reported in good faith, owe their 

 inaccuracy to faulty observation. Such was probably the case with an account published in 

 the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror (vol. 89, no. 52, June 26, 1909), which, as a sample of the 

 'whale and swordfish' story, may be quoted in full. "A remarkable fight between monsters 

 of the sea was witnessed by the passengers and crew of the steamer Esparta, which arrived at 

 Boston from Port Limon, Costa Rica, on Monday. 



"The thrilling battle occurred south of Nantucket South Shoal lightship, between a whale 

 and another great fish believed to be a swordfish. The whale was vanquished. 



' ' The whale was the only one of the two fighters visible to the passengers and crew. The 

 great mammal lashed its tail violently, churning the waters into a mass of foam, while it was 

 believed to be attacking the swordfish with its teeth. Several irregular plunges appeared to 

 indicate a successful plunge by the fish beneath and finally the great whale was seen to throw 

 its massive bulk clear of the water and then sink from sight. The water for a considerable 

 distance about was dyed red with the blood, and it was believed the whale had received a mortal 

 wound." 



Several points at once appear wherein the facts given do not bear out the conclusions. 

 "The whale was the only one of the two fighters visible," we are told, so that the main reason 

 for assuming there was a fight at all was simply the active movement of the whale, which after 

 a violent bit of 'lobtailing' finally leaped clear of the water and disappeared. Probably the 

 real explanation of the whole occurrence, as first suggested by Scammon, is that a playful 

 Humpback Whale was seen going through various antics after the habit of its kind, 'finning,' 

 'lobtailing' and 'breaching,' as described previously. To one ignorant of the habits of the 

 Humpback, such agile movements on the part of so great a creature might easily seem to 

 be the accompaniment of some terrific conflict with an unseen foe. The seas "dyed red with- 

 blood," if not the result of an overwrought imagination, might be in part due to the presence 

 of multitudes of the minute red crustaceans on which the whale feeds. 



A few years ago the Boston Transcript printed a like report of a "sea battle" witnessed 

 by passengers on the steamship Cymric when about a day's run from Boston. In this case the 



