THE FINWHALE FISHERY OF FINMARK. 455 



On Sept. 1st a flight of some twenty or thirty Whimbrels 

 passed high overhead, going S.W., as we were shooting near 

 Pilton. On this day Mr. Wirley P. Birch, of Cranford, near 

 Kettering, kindly brought to me alive a Shag, Plialacrocorax 

 graculus, which his son had "fetched down" a few days previously, 

 as it was passing high in air near the last-named village. The 

 bird is very little injured and doing well, on a little pond in our 

 garden, in company with a Black-footed Penguin, Spheniscus 

 demersus. I consider this Shag to be a bird of last year's hatch. 



On Sept. 4th four Snipes (two of which were, as we are assured 

 by the gamekeeper who saw them, "Jacks" !) were noticed at a 

 pond near Thrapston. We do not feel quite assured as to correct 

 specific identification in this instance, but ourselves saw a Jack 

 Snipe on Sept. 11th. 



On Sept. 7th Dr. Tomlinson assured me he had seen that 

 morning some young Swallows in their nest in his cowshed at 

 Oundle. 



Sept. 13th. Mr. Wm. Seale, — the London birdcatcher men- 

 tioned in my last communication (Zool. 1883, p. 502), — who has 

 been here for some days past, has seen several Eedpolls, Linota 

 rufescens, and taken four of them. He reports a Ring Ouzle near 

 this house about the 11th, and a long string of large Gulls, 

 probably Larus argentatus, going southwards on that day. 



LUford HaU, Oundle, Sept. 14, 1884. 



THE FINWHALE FISHERY ON THE COAST OF FINMARK. 



By Alfred Hknkagk Cocks, M.A., F.Z.S. 



(Concluded from p. 424). 



Dr. Guldberg, speaking of the Humpback (' Vardo Posten,' 

 Aug. 12th, 1883), says : — " The colour is above more or less 

 coal-black; on the sides and under the belly whitish, or with 

 white flecks and black rings upon white ground, which give it in 

 many places a marbled appearance. The pectoral fins are marked 

 upon the distal two-thirds with black rings. The proximal third 

 is black. The baleen-plates, of which the longest is 2 ft., are 

 grey-black, with yellowish hair. Its food consists of Capelan 



