264 NATURAL HISTORY. 



length of fifty or sixty or not more than seventy feet. The females are said to be larger 

 and fatter than the males, to produce one or rarely two young ones in the spring, which are 

 suckled fqr a twelvemonth, and they exhibit a constancy and affection for this offspring not 

 surpassed by any other of the tribe. The bulky body is largest about the middle, tapering 

 rather suddenly towards the tail, the flukes of which are occasionally over twenty feet from tip to 

 tip. The flipper is short and broadish ; while the head is a third of the length of the 

 animal. The small eye is placed very low, but nevertheless above the angle of the great arched- 

 mouth. The head is surrounded by a large swelling, at which point the double orifice of the blowhole 

 forms an obtuse angle. The adult is almost black, the young bluish-grey, the lower parts of the 

 throat cream-colour, and occasionally dispersed whitish markings on the body. Gregarious in habit, 

 they go in twos and threes, but sometimes in greater numbers, even in large flocks ; but the herds 

 now are indeed rare. Among the most remarkable peculiarities in this Whale are the nature of its 

 food and its mode of feeding. In the high latitudes there floats in immense quantities a small soft- 

 bodied Mollusc (Clio borealis), an inch long, with expansions like wings ; and besides it there are numerous 

 small Crustaceans and Jelly-fish of various kinds. These, curiously enough, feed on infinitesimally minute 

 Jelly-specks, Diatomacece, &c. These latter thus form subsistence to the formei', which in their turn 

 are the Whale's food ; so that, as Dr. Robert Brown has remarked, this enormous marine monster in a 

 secondary manner is sustained by incredible numbers of organisms of which 1,000 or more might be laid 

 on a shilling piece. Captain David Gray, a well-known successful whaler, has given a good account of 

 the mode of feeding. When the animal opens its mouth to feed, the whalebone springs forwards and 

 downwards so as to fill the mouth entirely. When in the act of shutting it again, the whalebone 

 being pointed slightly towards the throat, the lower jaw catches it and carries it up into the hollow 

 of the mouth. They choose a space between two pieces of ice, and swimming backwards and forwards 

 secure the food near the surface. They will continue feeding in this way for hours, afterwards 

 disappearing under the ice to sleep, and again suddenly reappearing as hunger compels them. 

 When the food is submerged ten or fifteen fathoms, after feeding the Whale comes to the surface to 

 breathe, and swallows its mouthful. It then lies still a minute, raises its head partially out of the 

 water, again diving, throwing its tail in the air as it disappears. At such times the whalers success- 

 fully harpoon them. Occasionally they are easily captured, but more often are approached 

 with great danger. The periods of surface-breathing and descents in the Right Whale are very 

 different and irregular compared with those of the Sperm Whale. At intervals of from five to fifteen 

 or twenty minutes they rise to breathe, and remain on the surface for about two minutes. Their 

 ordinary rate of travelling is nearly four miles an hour, but if alarmed or wounded their pace is 

 considerably increased. Like the other Whales, they travel head to the wind. They appear to have 

 periods of migration. In May they are found off West Greenland ; at the end of June they cross 

 Baffin's Bay, towards Lancaster Sound and Eclipse Bay, whence in A\igust and September they strike 

 south, and in November or later reach Hudson Strait and the coast of Labrador. It is supposed that 

 the young are produced in these lower latitudes, and in spring the Whales are believed to proceed 

 again northwards. This ordinarily quiet, harmless, but unwieldy creature, whose time seems to be 

 divided between feeding and sleeping, oc3asionally disports itself in fun and frolic, like its more 

 elegant but smaller congeners. It will then throw itself clean out of the water, " lobtail," " breach," 

 and so on. 



The whaling ships, which are now most powerfully built screw-propellers, leave Britain in the be- 

 ginning of May for the Greenland seas, and endeavour to come across the track of their prey in the 

 Baffin's Bay districts. The men in the crow's-nest have a weary and cold outlook, and as opportunity offers 

 chase is given in the whaleboat in these dreary regions under circumstances well calculated to test the 

 bravest spirit. The vessels often hover on the edges of the ice, or ram and bore their way through it, 

 and when Whales are announced they are assailed by the boats' crews with harpoons, lance, and at 

 times harpoon-guns. These Whales when struck will occasionally run out more than a mile of cable, 

 but return to breathe at no great distance, when the lance is used, and the extraordinary loss of blood 

 weakens the monster and lays him at the mercy of his pursuers. Whales that have once been attacked 

 and got free become veiy cunning, and instead of diving direct go straight along the surface, 

 dragging boats and even ships into most dangerous positions, or cutting the ropes as they seek shelter 



