526 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [36] 



A pike whale (Balamoptera?) was feeding near the vessel in Mingan 

 Harbor on August 14. An attempt was made to capture it ; a bomb- 

 lance was fired at it, but going wide of its mark only frightened the 

 animal so that it soon left the harbor. 



(o) Porpoises. — Porpoises appeared to be abundant off northeastern 

 Newfoundland, but no effort has been made by the local fishermen to 

 capture them for commercial purposes. Among those noticed were the 

 dolphin or common "sea porpoise" (Delphinus delphis), the porpoise 

 (Tursiops tursio), and x>uffing pig (Phocama communis). We saw them 

 off a long stretch of coast, and they appeared to be specially numer- 

 ous at Canada Bay and vicinity. They were very shy, however, and 

 it was impossible to approach them close enough to secure them by 

 harpooning or shooting. I think there would be no difficulty in secur- 

 ing them if the proper means were adopted. But the fishermen said 

 that there is no demand either for porpoise-oil or skins, and therefore 

 there was no inducement for them to make an effort to catch them. 



We made numerous attempts to capture specimens, but without avail. 

 At 6.30 a. m. on July 22, about 15 miles southwest of Funk Island, a 

 school of porpoises came around the vessel. One was harpooned, but 

 the iron did not get a good hold, and pulled out before the vessel could 

 be brought to the wind. 



On July 29 we saw a great number of porpoises outside of Canada 

 Head, but they avoided the vessel, and seemed to be intent chiefly on 

 chasing squid or capelin. Almost every day, while we lay at Canada 

 Bay, porpoises were seen in the bay and harbor. We went out in boats 

 and tried to harpoon or shoot them, but their extreme shyness pre- 

 vented us from getting near enough to make any captures. 



On August 3 porpoises were abundant north of Groais Island and 

 Cape Rouge, and were also seen between those points and Cape Ban Id. 



(p) Giant squid. — Mr. Andrew Linfield states that a giant squid was 

 captured in 1885 between Chance Island and Touliuguet by the fisher- 

 men at Herring Neck. The captors, not knowing that the animal had 

 any value except for bait or manure, destroyed it before any one better 

 informed knew it had been taken. 



7. NOTES UPON THE OCCURRENCE OF HAGDONS. 



On July 16, when off Cape St. Mary and Cape Pine, we fell in with 

 numerous large flocks of hagdons (Puffinus major and P. stricldandi) 

 setting upon the water. The sooty shearwater, or black hagdon, was 

 here in much greater relative abundance than I have ever previously 

 seen it. In most cases it seemed fully as numerous as the great shear- 

 water (P. major), and occasionally even more abundant. It will prob- 

 ably not be incorrect to say that nearly 50 per cent, of the birds seen 

 during the day, from Cape Pine to Cape Race, were of the black variety. 



The day was flue with light wind, varied by periods of calms, thus 



