BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY). 57 



Various recommendations have been made for the consideration 

 of the Secretary of State, having for their object the better protec- 

 tion of birds, especially those species which are slaughtered for the 

 trade in plumes. 



Investigation of Antarctic Whales. 



A report on whales, based on the notes made by the late Major 

 G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton during his mission to South Georgia, 

 has been prepared by Mr. M. A. C. Hinton and forwarded to the 

 Colonial Office. The document is of considerable importance in 

 relation to the question of the threatened extinction of some of the 

 species of whales found in the Antarctic seas, and it will be laid in 

 due course before the Inter-Departmental Committee on Whales. 



Dr. Harmer has also submitted a report on the result of his 

 study of official papers and statistics on the whaling operations at 

 South Georgia. Dr. Harmer draws attention to the fall in the 

 number of Humpback Whales captured, a reduction which is so 

 marked as to give rise to grave anxiety for the future of the species. 

 The whalers are now devoting their labours principally to the larger 

 species, such as the Fin and Blue Whales, and this appears to be 

 due to the fact that the number of Humpbacks in those waters 

 has seriously diminished. 



Stranded Whales. 



The systematic inquiry into the stranding of Cetacea on the 

 British coasts, started with the concurrence and help of the 

 Board of Trade, has been continued. Owing to the abnormal con- 

 ditions caused by the war, the total number of stranded specimens 

 reported only reached 28, as compared with 76 in 1913 and 57 

 in 1914. The year's record has nevertheless been of exceptional 

 interest, in that a male specimen of " Cuvier's Whale " (Zi.phius 

 cavirostris), which was stranded at Fethard, Co. Wexford, has been 

 obtained for the collection. It is noteworthy that the first specimen 

 received at South Kensington after the inauguration of the arrange- 

 ment with the Board of Trade proved to be another Ziphius caviros- 

 tris, probably a female, so that two skeletons of this rare cetacean, 

 both from the Irish coast, have through this arrangement been 

 preserved. The Natural History Museum had hitherto possessed 

 no European specimen of the species. A specimen of the rare 

 "Sowerby's Whale" (Mesoplodon bidens) was stranded off the coast 

 of Inverness. The thanks of the Trustees are again due to the 

 Receivers of Wreck and Coastguard Officers who have given valuable 

 assistance in the prosecution of this inquiry. A report (the third) 

 on the Cetacea stranded during the year 1915 will be issued early 

 in 1916. 



Rowland W^ard Bequest. 



The specimens received during 1915 as gifts from the Trustees 

 of the Rowland Ward Bequest amounted to seventeen items in all, 



