THE COMMON WHALE. 91 



the current year, January 1836, it is stated, " that 

 the whole of the whales which frequent the Polar 

 Seas pass annually to the southward, and may be 

 equally well encountered in the Atlantic Ocean, in 

 well known positions and seasons ; that they pass 

 in bodies in the months of March and April, about 

 midway between the coasts of Iceland and New- 

 foundland ; and that a much nearer and less dan- 

 gerous fishery might be established at that season 

 than by the present voyage to the Arctic Seas." 

 The great importance of the point at issue has in- 

 duced us to give this statement from our much re- 

 spected cotemporary; though we fear it is inaccu- 

 rate, and might be adduced as an illustration of the 

 prevailing ignorance concerning the whale tribes. 

 if M the whole of the whales" go southward in 

 March and April, how does it happen that, for 

 hundreds of years, so many have been captured in 

 the Polar Seas during the summer and autumnal 

 months? Another scarcely less serious objection 

 is the decided statement of Mr. Scorseby, the very 

 highest authority on this subject, and which we be- 

 lieve has never been contradicted, that the true 

 mysticetus has never been seen beyond the limits of 

 the Arctic Regions. Besides, the green-water or 

 feeding grounds of the whale, as well as the mollusca 

 and other small animals on which they feed, are rare, 

 or not at all seen, in lower latitudes. Mariners, it is 

 true, often make such statements as the above ; they 

 have in this way reported, that great shoals of the 

 largest whales frequent the northern shores of Lap- 



