170 NEWFOUNDLAND 



or move north along the Labrador, where they are very 

 numerous in August and September, in fact until the northern 

 ice comes dovirn and drives them south again. On the British 

 coasts they appear in large numbers off Harris and West 

 Shetland in May, and move north-east very slowly through- 

 out the summer, following the banks of " kril." By September 

 the main herds are still only about loo miles due north of 

 Muckle Flugga (Unst), where I saw 200 all in view at once 

 in 1904. After this the whalemen think they slowly con- 

 tinue their journey north-north-east, and that they turn south- 

 west again in October, bringing with them the main body, 

 which has summered up on the Finmark coast, Spitzbergen, 

 Iceland, and the White Sea. In general habits this whale 

 is very similar to the Blue Whale, but it is a more active 

 creature. It swims faster, and remains under water for a 

 shorter period (about eight to twelve minutes). 



Its superficial dives are also made more quickly, only from 

 six to ten appearances taking place. 



In the midst of "kril" or caplin it moves very slowly, 

 and drives the " bait " together by circling round it. When 

 thus engaged Finbacks seem to be quite oblivious of the 

 presence of ships, and roll under the bows and body of the 

 ship with a disregard of their own safety which is truly 

 astonishing ; and yet so delicate is their judgment of distance 

 and sense of proportion that they seldom, if ever, come into 

 collision with a vessel.^ Strange as it may seem, these feeding 

 whales are sometimes most difficult to fire at from the ship. I 

 have been in a whaler within a stone's-throw of a big Finback 

 for a quarter of an hour, and the captain, with all his skilful 



' A Finner moving in a mass of "kril" struck a whaler on the coast of Finmark 

 in 1890. The whale was stunned, and the vessel sustained iittle injury beyond 

 some bent plates. 



