MAKING OUR EASTING DOWN 37 
tions were made almost hourly throughout the daylight 
hours. Most officers and men knew the more common sea 
birds in the open ocean, and certainly of those in the pack 
and fringes of the Antarctic continent, which, with rare 
exceptions, is the southern limit of bird life. 
A number of observations of whales, illustrated by 
Wilson, were made, but the results so far as the seas from 
England to the Cape and New Zealand are concerned, are 
not of great importance, partly because close views were 
seldom obtained, and partly because the whales inhabiting 
these seas are fairly well known. On October 3, 1910, in 
latitude 42° 17’ S. and longitude 111° 18’ E., two adults 
of Balaenoptera borealis (Northern Rorqual) were follow- 
ing the ship close under the counter, length f0 feet, with a 
light-coloured calf some 18-20 feet long swimming with 
them. It was established by this and by a later observation 
in New Zealand, when Lillie helped to cut up a similar 
whale at the Norwegian Whaling Station at the Bay of 
Islands, that this Rorqual which frequents the sub-Antarc- 
tic seas is identical with our Northern Rorqual;? but this 
was the only close observation of any whales obtained 
before we left New Zealand. 
General information with regard to such animals is 
useful, however, as showing the relative abundance of 
plankton on which the whales feed in the ocean. There are, 
for instance, more whales in the Antarctic than in warmer 
seas ; and some whales at any rate (e.g. Humpback whales) 
probably come north into warmer waters in the winter 
rather for breeding purposes than to get food.* 
With regard to dolphins four species were observed 
beyond question. The rarest dolphin seen was Tersio 
peronii, the peculiarity of which is that it has no dorsal fin. 
This was seen on October 20, 1910, in latitude 42° 51’ S. 
and longitude 153° 56’ E. 
Reports of whales and dolphins which are not based 
‘upon carcases and skeletons must be accepted with caution. 
It is most difficult to place species with scientific accuracy 
which can only be observed swimming in the water, and of 
1 See B.A.E., 1910, Nat. Hist. Report, vol. i. No. 3, p. 117. 2 Ibid. p. 111. 
