110 “TERRA NOVA” EXPEDITION. 
a whale became entangled in the net, a boat was immediately despatched to shoot the 
captive by means of a Hotchkiss gun. 
An average of about eight Humpbacks each season was obtained by these means, 
over a period of nearly twenty years. No other species were taken in the net. 
DISTRIBUTION AND MIGRATION IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 
July 29,1910 . 22 RMS 528 selene : . School of two. 
August 4, 1910 5 a0? 2S Tee a} WY : . School of five or six travelling S.W. 
*October 26, 1910 5 AUB ISE, TO? 24 1 : . School of five or six travelling south. 
*August 11, 1911 . Off the Three Kings Islands, N.Z. » School of three travelling north. 
*March 15, 1912 + 68° BUS 69e 45iek: ; 
*January 30, 1913 . 67° 'S., 1672 25! EE: 
The above list gives the occasions on which Humpback whales were seen by the 
“Terra Nova.” On the dates marked with an asterisk the whales showed themselves 
very clearly, so that identification was quite certain. In spite of careful observations, 
we did not see any of these whales in the Ross Sea; which tends to support the 
opinion arrived at by M. Racovitza,* that the Humpback does not penetrate into ice- 
covered seas, although it is very common in Antarctic waters wheresoever they are 
fairly free from ice. It used to be the whale chiefly taken by the whalers who go 
every summer to South Georgia, the South Shetlands, and Graham’s Land, but it has 
become less common at some of these localities during the last two or three years. The 
Humpback is also captured off the east and west coasts of South America, South Africa, 
New Zealand, Tasmania, Norfolk Island, and Australia. 
Excellent opportunities were afforded to me for studying the seasonal migrations 
of Humpback whales, off the north of New Zealand, during the winters of 1911 and 
1912. There seemed to be very good evidence that these whales spend the summer 
months in the Antarctic Ocean, down to the northern limit of the pack-ice; and 
that at the beginning of winter they migrate northward into the warm seas, in the 
neighbourhood of New Zealand and Norfolk Island. 
The first whales of the season began to pass the Bay of Islands, on their way 
northward, about the middle of April. They continued to go towards the north 
until the end of August. The greatest number passed northward of this locality in 
May and the early part of June. After the middle of September, at the Bay of 
Islands, the first members of the long procession were to be seen going southward, on 
their way back to the Antarctic Ocean. The majority passed south of the Bay during 
October, and by the middle of December they were all to the south of this place. 
The whaling season at the Bay of Islands lasts from May to November. There 
is a slack time in the middle of the season, from July to September, when all the 
whales are to the northward. These three months are the busy time for the whalers 
at Norfolk Island. 
* Racovitza, E., “ Résultats du voyage du 8.Y. ‘ Belgica,’ Zoologie, Cétacés,” 1903, pp. 32 and 46. 
