94 VOYAGE TO SPITSBERGEN. 



believe that the whale feeds chiefly, if not altoge- 

 ther, on the squillce or shrimp tribe ; for, on ex- 

 amining the stomach of one of large size, nothing 

 else was found in it ; they were about half an inch 

 long, semi-transparent, and of a pale red colour. — 

 I also found a great quantity in the mouth of 

 another, having been apparently vomited by it. 

 When the whale feeds, it swims with considerable 

 velocity under water, with its mouth wide open; 

 the water enters by the fore part, but is poured out 

 again at the sides, and the food is entangled and 

 sifted as it were by the whalebone, which does not 

 allow any thing to escape." 



Their time of parturition is in April, and though 

 they are said to bring forth two young ones at a 

 time,* yet I never saw more than one along with 

 such as we killed. Fabricius says, that, for the 

 most part, they bring forth but one.-f- The female 

 is frequently taken when endeavouring to save her 

 young one, which is generally killed first by way of 

 stratagem. She then strives to take it away under 

 her fins ; but, in the midst of these efforts, being 

 overtaken by the boats, she falls a victim to her 

 maternal affection. 



The female, during pregnancy, which is about 



* Br. Zool. Edit. 1769, vol. iii. p. 37. 

 f Paun. Groenl. loc. cit. 



