32 THE WHALES AlfD tOEPOlSES. 



be invisible from tlie lookout stations ; there are probably between 100 and 200 whales going south- 

 ward daily from the beginning to the end of the ' down season' (from December 15 to February 1). 

 The estimate of the annual herd visiting the coast is probably not large, as there is no allowance 

 made for those that migrate earlier and later in the season. From what data we have been able 

 to obtain, the whole number of California Gray Whales which have been captured or destroyed 

 since the bay whaling commenced in 1846 would not exceed 10,800, and the number which now 

 periodically visits the coast does not exceed 8,000 or 10,000."^ 



On another page he writes : "ISTone of our whales are so constantly and variously pursued as 

 this; and the large bays and lagoons where these mammals once cougregated, brought forth and 

 nurtured their young, are already nearly deserted. The mammoth bones of the California Gray lie 

 bleaching on the shores of these silvery waters, and are scattered along the broken coasts from 

 Siberia to the Gulf of California ; and ere long, it may be questioned whether this mammal will 

 not be numbered among the extinct species of the Pacific." ^ 



Size. — The male attains the average length of thirty-iive feet, while the female grows to forty 

 or more. A female forty -four feet long and twenty-two feet in circumference is considered large, 

 though some still greater have been caught, yielding sixty or seventy barrels of oil. The average 

 yield of the male is twenty to twenty-five barrels. The baleen is light brown or nearly white, 

 coarse-grained, with a heavy, uneven fringe, the longest strips measuring from fourteen to sixteen 

 inches. The blubber is solid and tough, reddish in color, and from six to ten inches thick. 



Food and eepeodtjction. — The nature of the food of the California Gray Whale is not 

 satisfactorily known, though it is reasonable to supi)ose that it consists of surface animals, strained 

 out by the baleen. 



They breed in the winter, the females entering the California lagoons, while the males remain 

 outside. To their disturbance on their breeding grounds may be attributed the great diminution 

 in numbers. The period of gestation is about a year. After the young are born, male and female 

 and calf are seen working northward together, and Scammon thinks that they bear young only 

 once in two years. 



Captxjee. — The habit of frequenting shoal bays is peculiar to this one species. They are 

 often seen among the breakers, where they are tossed about by the groundswell, and where the 

 water is hardly deep enough to float them. The pursuit of this whale is very dangerous, owing 

 to their savage disposition and the shoalness of the water into which they are followed. The 

 Eskimos and Indians of the Northwest kill many, using their flesh for food and their skins for 

 clothing. 



1 Scammon : op. cit, p. 23. 

 ^ Scammon : op. cit., p. 33. 



