51 MARINE MAM3IALS OF THE NOETH-WESTEBN COAST. 



bone, seven pounds. The bone extends back of spout -holes in the throat three 

 feet, and falls short of nib -end one foot. 



CAPTAIN smith's WHALE. 



Sex, male : color above and below, black. 



' ' rt. In. 



Length 45 



Girth in largest j^lace ( behind pectorals ) 28 



Length of pectorals ' 3 



Breadth of pectorals 3 9 



Nib - end or nose to pectorals 18 8 



Corner of mouth to nib - end 16 



Eye to nib - end IG 



Spout - holes to nib - end 14 



Length of opening to spout -holes (longitudinally) 1 2 



Flukes from tip to tip 16 



Width of flukes from notch to junction with the body 4 2 



Vent to flukes 8 10 



Genital slit to flukes 12 



Size around the "small" at genital slit 19 



Length of longest bone or baleen 9 6 



Width of longest bone or baleen 1 



Average thickness of blubber 9 



Color of blubber, slightly reddish. The number of layers of bone on each side 

 of the jaw was three hundred and eight. The yield of oil was sixty barrels ; yield 

 of bone, one thousand and fifty pounds. 



When the Bowhead feeds, it moves through its native element, either below or 

 near the surface, with considerable velocity, its jaws being open, whereby a body 

 of water enters its capacious mouth, and along with it the animalculse (termed by 

 the whalemen "Right Whale feed," or "brit"). The water escapes through the 

 layers of baleen,* but the insect food is retained by the fine fringes on its inner 

 edges, and is afterward swallowed. When not disturbed, the animal remains up, 

 generally, to respire, from one and a half to two and a half minutes, during which 

 time it spouts from six to nine times, and then disappears for the space of ten to 

 twenty minutes. The volume of vapor ejected is similar to that of the Right Whale. 

 Sometimes, when engaged in feeding, it remains down for twenty -five minutes or 



*For illustrations of layers of baleen, or tus); Eight Whale of the North-western Coast, 



"slabs of bone," as named by whalers, see {Balwna Sieholdiif); Sulphurbottom, {Sibbaldius 



page 55, which shows the relative proportions sulfureus); Humpback {Megaptera versabilis); and 



of the baleen of the Bowhead, {Balmna mysUce- the California Gray (Ehachianecies glaums). 



