620 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Suddenly they became animated ; as on a given signal the whole 

 flock raise their long wings at exactly the same moment 5 with deafening 

 screams they rise and wing their flight over the sea ; like a thick white 

 cloud they may be seen to descend at some distant point of the ocean 

 which resembles a foaming whirlpool. This is occasioned by the pol- 

 lack which have surrounded a school of sand-eels and forced them to- 

 ward the surface of the water where they can easily catch them. The 

 poor little fish are at the same time attacked by the birds from above. 

 This lasts but a short time ; soon the school of sand-eels is scattered in all 

 directions, the pollack have gone into deeper waters to renew the chase, 

 while the birds, nearly every one with a glittering sand-eel in its beak, 

 are slowly flying toward the rocks which they left a short time ago, 

 to watch their chance for catching more fish. The fishermen also watch 

 this opportunity when the pollack are near the surface, and, if they are 

 In time, generally catch a few. But what interested me specially was 

 the fact that quite frequently large and small cod were caught instead 

 of the pollack. This happened oftenest in the beginning of the pollack- 

 fisheries, showing that the cod, which generally keeps near the bottom, 

 occasionally imitates its more lively half-brother's mode of life. 



For a time the fishermen's pollack-fishing and my cod-fishing were 

 quite successful. But suddenly a change took place. The fishermen 

 came home discouraged with almost empty boats ; the pollack and the 

 birds had been there as always, but none of the fish would bite. My 

 cod-fishing was not so successful either, and half a day often passed 

 without a single bite. I soon found the cause of this. Both the pollack 

 and the cod now used another kind of food, which they seemed to prefer 

 to the sand-eel. Some days previous the many pillars of smoke-like 

 spray seen on the western horizon indicated that a considerable number 

 of whales were approaching the Westfiord ; and on a fine, calm day, 

 when I was out in my boat, about the middle of the Westfiord, I was 

 suddenly surrounded on all sides by blowing and snorting monsters of 

 the sea. Gigantic whales showed their broad, black backs over the sur- 

 face, often in dangerous proximity to my boat, and with a hollow noise 

 squirted the watery spray high up into the air, while nimble dolphins 

 leaped high above the water, their sides glittering in the rays of the 

 sun. Occasionally a sudden foaming motion could be noticed in the 

 water; just as if the waves were breaking against some hidden rock, 

 two high pointed fins rose above the surface and quickly disappeared 

 again. This was the gigantic fish well known in these latitudes by the 

 collective name of storje, while farther south it is with greater accuracy 

 called " makrel-storje," and which belongs to the same species as the 

 tunny, so highly prized in the Mediterranean. By looking down into 

 the clear water I could often see large and small schools of scared 

 *^ltle fish swim underneath my boat with lightning-like rapidity, and 

 when hard pressed by their pursuing enemies, leap high over the sur- 

 face, showing their shining silvery sides. Although I did not succeed 



