THE FINWHALE FISHERY OF 1886. 207 



slowly about in a cage their movements are very kangaroo - 

 like. In burrowing, the snout is used for shovelling the earth 

 away in front of them. In captivity they have — as far as my 

 exjDerience goes — rather a dull and listless manner, and, in spite 

 of their beauty, make less interesting pets than the common 

 House Moi;se. The skin of the tail, as with the Dormouse, is 

 but slightly attached, and if seized by that appendage the mouse 

 generally escapes, leaving the skin between the finger and thumb 

 of its would-be captor. 



THE FlNWHx\LE FISHEKY OF 1886 ON THE 

 LAPLAND COAST. 



By Alfred Heneage Cocks, AT. A., F.Z.S. 



The Finwhaling season of 1886 off the N. coast of Norway 

 and Russia proved a good one as far as the number and size 

 of the Whales obtained goes, but, owing to the continued low prices 

 of oil and baleen, it is not every company that is satisfied with the 

 result ; and I think everyone concerned is ready to acknowledge 

 that the}' are treading seriously on one another's heels. 



Rudolphi's Rorqual, which in 1885, for the first time on record, 

 appeared in such large numbers to the eastwards of the North 

 Cape, last year confined itself again to its usual habitat, only 

 eight individuals being taken by ships of the companies having 

 their stations to the east of that headland, and it is quite likely 

 that some, and possibly all, even of this small number were 

 actually killed to the westward of it. None were even seen by 

 the Russian boats. 



The Blue Whale reappeared last year in more like its former 

 numbers, but, as will be seen by anyone who will take the trouble 

 to compare the numbers caught by each company last season 

 with those killed in 1884 (published in 'The Zoologist' for 1885), 

 there was an appreciable falling- off in this species as regards 

 the Norwegian coast, though apparently this was not the case in 

 the eastward portion of the Russian waters. 



A similar comparison for the last three years (1884, 1885, 

 1886) of the numbers of Common Rorquals killed will show a 

 steady increase each succeeding j'ear, the totals for each company 

 in 1886 averaging more than double the number obtained in 1884. 



