58 MARINE 3IA3IMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 



dom seen in Behring Sea south of the fifty -fifth parallel, which is about the far- 

 thest southern extent of the winter ice ; while in the Sea of Okhotsk the southern, 

 limit of this species is about the latitude of 54°. In tracing the history of its 

 capture, we can revert to the Dutch and Russian fishery about Spitzbergen anterior 

 to 1615, and we find that, as years passed on, it Avas extended westward, on the 

 Atlantic side, as far as the icy barriers in Davis Strait, and the adjacent waters 

 connecting with the Frozen Ocean. Everything tends to prove that the Balcena mys- 

 ticetus is truly an "ice -whale," for among the scattered floes, or about the borders 

 of the ice-fields or barriers, is its home and feeding -ground. It is true that these 

 animals are pursued in the open water during the summer months, but in no 

 instance have Ave learned of their being captured south of where winter ice-fields 

 are occasionally met with. In the Okhotsk Sea and its bays, these whales are 

 found throughout the season, after the ice disappears ; nevertheless, they remain 

 around the floes until dispelled by the summer sun ; and they are found in the 

 same localities even after the surface of the water has again become congealed by 

 the rigors of returning winter. 



Right whales were pursued for several years on the iSTorth - western Coast, on 

 the coast of Kamschatka, about the Kurile Islands, and in the Japan Sea, before 

 Bowheads were known to exist in that part of the Arctic Ocean adjoining Behring 

 Strait, or in the Okhotsk Sea. In the year 1848, Captain Roys, in the American 

 bark Superior, was the first Avhaling- master to work his vessel through Behring 

 Strait into the Arctic Ocean, and there found whales innumerable, some of which 

 yielded tAVO hundred and eighty barrels of oil. 



The habits of the BoAvhead are, in many respects, like those of the Humpback, 

 being irregular in its movements, in its respirations, and in the periods of time 

 either above or beloAV the surface of the Avater. When going gently along, or lying 

 quietly, it shows two portions of the body: the spout- holes, and a part of the 

 back, on account of the high conical shape of the former, and the swell of the 

 latter, which is about midAvay betAveen the spout- holes and flukes. 



The BoAvheads of the Arctic may be classed as follows : 1st class — the largest 

 whales, of a broAvn color; average yield of oil two hundred barrels. 2d class — 

 smaller, color black; yield of oil one hundred barrels. 3d class — the smallest, 

 color black; yield of oil seventy -Aa^c barrels.* Those belonging to the last named 

 class are generally found among the broken floes the first of the season, and they 

 have been known to break through ice, three inches in thickness, that had been 



* We do not mean to convey the idea of spe- our acquaintance agree that the difference in size 

 cies Avhen mentioning classes, as all observers of and shade of color arises from difference in age. 



