COMMON FINBACK WHALE. 209 



of Finback Whales passed by Highland Light [Cape Cod], Friday, bound north" (Nantucket 

 Inquirer, vol. 36, no. 142, Nov. 24, 1856). 



1857. About April 15th, Finback Whales came into Province town Harbor. Two were 

 harpooned but escaped (Nantucket Inquirer, vol. 37, no. 41, Apl. 20, 1857). 



1858. About March 25th, "a Finback Whale, 62 feet in length, was found ashore on 

 tlic south side of Martha's Vineyard." It was estimated to yield some 25 barrels of oil worth 

 5400. 



October 28th, "a large whale" was reported off Point Judith, in Long Island Sound. It 

 remained in sight for some while and when last seen was proceeding in the direction of Block 

 Island. Probably it was a Finback, though there is nothing to indicate this definitely. 



1859. Professor A. E. Verrill writes (The Bermuda Islands, 1902, p. 275) that in late 

 July and early August he observed at the entrance to the Bay of Fundy large schools of Hump- 

 I 'arks with some Finbacks. "They were especially numerous at the seining grounds known 

 as the 'Ripplings' east of Grand Menan Island, towards the center of the Bay, where the strong 

 opposed tidal currents make a large area of very rough water during flood tide." The whales 

 \vcre feeding on herring and shrimps that had gathered here. 



1861. About June 20th, a Finback, 63 feet in length was found on the beach at Smith's 

 Point, Nantucket. It had evidently been dead several days. 



1868. About October 25th, four Finback Whales were seen off Nantucket and unsuc- 

 cessfully pursued by a boat's crew from the town (Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror, vol. 49, 

 no. 18, Oct. 31, 1868). 



In the autumn of this year, a Finback over sixty feet long was lanced and killed by boats 

 pursuing Blackfish at Cape Cod. It made about twenty barrels of oil (G. B. Goode: Fisheries 

 and Fishery Industries of U. S., 1884, sect. 1, p. 28). 



1870. April 1st, a Finback was picked up dead near Chatham, Mass., by a Nantucket 

 schooner. It measured about 63 feet in length and yielded about 22 barrels of oil. The cause 

 of its death was not discovered (Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror, vol. 50, nos. 40, 41, Apl. 2 

 and 9, 1870). 



About October 20th, a whale was captured about ten miles off Gloucester, and was towed 

 to Boston. 



1871. About the 20th of October two dead whales were found in Nantucket waters. 

 One drifted ashore at Siasconset, the other was picked up in the vicinity of Tuckernuck Shoals. 

 From the small amount of oil produced, it is probable that both were Finbacks (Nantucket 

 Inquirer and Mirror, vol. 52, no. 11, Sept. 9, 1871). 



A Finback captured off Gloucester, Mass., in October was made the subject of a memoir 

 by Dr. Thomas Dwight (Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1872, vol. 2, p. 203-230, pis. 6, 7) and 

 its mounted skeleton is preserved in the Society's Museum. 



