274 ALLEN: NEW ENGLAND WHALEBONE WHALES. 



are the capelin in the northern waters, when they come in shore to spawn that quantities may 

 easily be dipped up with a net. The cod feed largely on capelin so it may be that the whale 

 is really pursuing these latter in company with the cod when it is believed to be feeding on cod. 

 Carte and Macalister found nothing in the stomach of their specimen except what seemed to 

 be the lens of a fish's eye. Hunter mentions finding in the stomach of one, the remains of 

 sundry fish, including a dogfish. 



On the New England coast herring probably form its chief food, and no doubt it was while 

 in pursuit of these fish that several of those recorded were taken in fish traps. 



Perrin found small pebbles in the stomach of the specimen described by him, but these 

 may have come from the fish eaten by the whale. 



Breeding Habits. 



Of its breeding habits practically nothing is known. As with other whales, a single young 

 at a birth is the rule. Specimens have been taken as small as nine or ten feet in length, which 

 were probably newly born or at least but a few weeks old. Van Beneden (1869) records one 

 of three meters taken on the coast of Brittany in February, 1861, and Knox speaks of one killed 

 in the Firth of Forth in February, 1834, that was but ten feet long. These two were probably 

 born sometime in early winter. Eschricht believes the period of gestation to be ten months, 

 and says that the young whale at birth is nine feet long, or about a third to a fourth the length 

 of the adult. A foetus of 8 feet 2 inches is mentioned as seen by Melchoir which must have 

 been nearly mature (van Beneden, 1887). Guldberg (1886, p. 145) after reviewing all the 

 evidence obtainable concludes that the period of gestation is about ten months, and that the 

 young are born probably in November, December, or January. The new born young is about 

 nine feet long. 



Geographic Distribution. 



In the North Atlantic the Least Rorqual seems to be found chiefly in the cooler waters 

 to the northward of the warm Gulf Stream current. On the western side, it has been recorded 

 as far south as New York and New Jersey, but is apparently rare below the latitude of Long 

 Island. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the east coast of Labrador it is common but 

 in Davis Strait it is rare and only a few seem to reach Baffin's Bay. Brown (1868) says that 

 the natives of the western shores of Davis Strait seldom recognized the figures of this species, 

 but the people of south Greenland knew it well. Low (1906, p. 273) says it is unknown to 

 the Eskimo of Baffin Island. Fabricius, in 1780, wrote that it was plentiful in summer among 

 the bays of south Greenland, but in winter appeared to be rare. In the eastern Atlantic the 

 Little Piked Whale is abundant along the Norwegian coasts, and in summer goes as far north 



