COMMON RORQUAL 



Rorqual did not leave the dead body of the sea-monster 

 until they had, as they considered, become the proud 

 possessors of one of its " teeth," when, as has already 

 been shown, it does not possess any ! The souvenir was, 

 as a matter of fact, a piece of the so-called whalebone. 

 There appear to be few, if any, naturalists or whale- 

 hunters who have ever sighted a young Rorqual, and it 

 has been suggested that the cow is so secretive in her 

 habits at such time as she bears her calf, and thereafter 

 so jealously cares for her offspring, that she chooses 

 an ocean retreat where it is not possible for human eyes 

 to penetrate. 



In the Scottish Naturalist, Prof. D'Arcy Wentworth 

 Thompson has contributed several important reports 

 on Whales landed at the Scottish whaling stations, 

 especially during 1908-14, dealing on this occasion with 

 the Bottle-nose, Hump-back and Finner Whales. Of 

 these, the first one is evidently not an uncommon visitor 

 to the Firth of Clyde, being frequently reported, but the 

 other two have, so far, no fixed place on the Clyde list. 

 The most important one of the three, from the Whale- 

 fisher's point of view, is the Finner, or Common Rorqual, 

 the " Herring- Whale " of the Norwegians, It forms 

 the greater part of the catch at all our Scottish whaling 

 stations. Between 1908-14, 2,409 Finners were caught 

 out of a total of 3,959 Whales. The sexes are, on the 

 whole, equally balanced. Females much predominate 

 among the larger sizes. Thus while among Finners, of 



50 feet and over, the females are 50.2 per cent., they 



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