1936] MAMMALS OF OREGON 343 



often throw the spout of vapor and water to a height of 20 feet or 

 more. The females when nursing young appear to use up most of 

 their fat and sometimes yield only a few barrels of oil. When killed 

 these whales promptly sink to the bottom of the ocean unless secured 

 by the harpoon and line before being shot in a vital spot with the 

 bomb gun. The Indians and Eskimos hunt them in their open boats 

 with air-inflated sealskins fastened to the harpoons as floats to retard 

 the speed of the wounded whale and eventually to keep it afloat 

 when killed. 



Breeding habits. The females resort to favorite localities to bring 

 forth their young. On the west coast of Mexico Scammon (1874, 

 p. 4$) reports numbers of females with calves only a few days old 

 during December, and other females accompanied by large calves, 

 probably yearlings. The calf at birth is about one-fourth the length 

 of the cow some 12 or 15 feet and Scammon says they nurse much 

 as do other mammals but under water as the cow lies at the surface 

 partly exposed. As in other whalebone whales, the one nipple on 

 each side is located well back on the side of the abdomen. 



Food habits. Scammon (1874, P- 44) reports their food as con- 

 sisting mainly of small fish and the lower orders of crustaceans. 

 G. M. Allen (1916 ', p. 303), in writing of the Atlantic form, says 

 they feed chiefly on pelagic crustaceans, engulfed in quantities as 

 they swim about in the plankton currents. He also gives records 

 of their feeding on small fish and squid. 



Economic status. Although relatively low in yield of oil and 

 whalebone, these whales have been considered an important product 

 of the whaling industry, and great numbers have been taken during 

 the early days of the industry. The yield of oil is variable, from 

 only 8 or 10 barrels in some nursing females to 30 or 40 barrels in 

 animals in good condition. There are records of 85 and 145 barrels 

 of oil from unusually large and fat individuals. The whalebone is 

 of poor quality and low value, and the yield is usually not over 100 

 pounds to a whale. 



Suborder ODONTOCETI: Toothed Cetaceans 



Family PHYSETERIDAE : Sperm Whales 



PHYSETER CATODON LINNAEUS 



SPERM WHALE 



[Physeter} catodon Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, v. 1, p. 76, 1758. 

 Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus (Grinnell, in Distrib. List of Mamm. Calif.), 

 1758. 



Type locality. Kairston, Orkney Islands. 



General characters. Largest of all the toothed whales, with an enormous 

 head and full set of 40 to 50 teeth in slender lower jaws (pi. 49, A) ; upper 

 teeth absent or rudimentary; nostril, or single blowhole, located near tip of 

 heavy truncate rostrum; eyes well above corners of mouth; pectorals small; 

 tail flukes broad; no dorsal fin; a knob or bunch on top of head and several 

 along small of back ; general color blackish above, becoming grayish below. 



Measurements. Large old males reach a length of 64 feet, but the females 

 are much smaller and more slender, rarely exceeding 40 feet. The pectoral 

 fins are only about 6 feet long, and the caudal flukes spread 12 or 15 feet. 



Distribution and abundance. Sperm whales were said to inhabit 

 every ocean not bound with icy fetters during the winter, and 



