32 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



and secondly in June and July. The Humpback 

 swims quietly and slowly in summer, but otherwise 

 in winter when it moves to the westward with the 

 speed of a steamer, and approaches the coast as 

 nearly as possible. Many whalers believe that it 

 rubs itself on the stones of the coast to free itself 

 of parasites. Certain it is that the whole Varanger 

 Fiord in the month of March simply bubbles or 

 boils with these whales. 



On the Finmark coast the Humpbacks are 

 noticed to have their stomachs empty in the 

 migration period. The females are pregnant, being 

 near the birth period. 



At the beginning of April they are found feeding 

 on fish. Where they go when they leave the 

 Norwegian coast is not certain, possibly to the 

 African coast, or the Cape Verde Islands or the 

 Azores. 



The spring migration of the Humpback from the 

 Norwegian coast is concerned with its reproduction. 

 The female probably carries her young for eleven 

 months. Whether pairing takes place soon after 

 the birth of the young, as in the seals, is not known. 

 The Bear Island whalers have observed the young 

 suckling when twenty feet long. The larger young 

 ones follow their mother even in the subsequent year 

 when they leave the Finmark coast. Where the 

 northern Humpback goes in the season from autumn 

 to the following January or Febuary is not known, 

 because the whaling season finishes in September. 

 The Humpback is also found off the Greenland 



