MAMMALS OF KEEWATIN. 



Balaena mysticetus Linn. Greenland whale. 



Formerly found as far (south as Churchill River, according to Hearne, 

 who sa\',s that three were killed there in the course of twenty year.s. 

 They were more plentiful to the northward, and the Hudson's Bay 

 Companjr carried on a whale fishery in the yicinity of Marble Island for 

 several years, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, which, how- 

 ever, proved to be unprofitable and was abandoned." During the latter 

 half of the nineteenth century American whalemen frequently visited 

 Hudson Bay and vicinity. Starbuck gives the records of forty-seven 

 vo3'ages to Hudson Bay by whaling vessels sailing mainly from New 

 Bedford, Mass. , and New London, Conn. , between 1861 and 1871. These 

 vessels brought home 21,810 barrels of whale oil and 353,740 pounds 

 of whalebone.* The bark Pioneer, which sailed from New London 

 June 1, 1864, returned from Hudson Bay September 18, 1866, with a 

 cargo of whale oil and whalebone worth $150,000. This, it is claimed, 

 is the best voj'age on record. Detailed information in regard to whal- 

 ing vessels sailing from other countries and in regard to American 

 vessels sailing in recent years is not at hand, but Marble Island is still 

 used to a considerable extent as a wintering post for whaling vessels. 



J. C. Ross recorded Greenland whales from the western shore of 

 Prince Regent Inlet, where they were found in considerable numbers. 

 A few were also seen about Boothia." Captain Lyon saw many whales, 

 probably of this species, near Duke of YorkBaj', Southampton Island. "^ 

 Southwell records that the whale ship Active, from Dundee, while in 

 the northern part of Hudson Bay, in the summer of 1899, spoke an 

 American vessel which had on boai'd the produce of sixteen whales, 

 presumably killed in the Bay." It is possible that other species cccur 

 in the region, but 1 find no specific reference to them. 



Monodon monoceros Linn. Narwhal. 



Said to be occasionally killed about the northern part of the Bay.'' 

 During Parry's second voyage many were seen near Duke of York 



« Hearne, Journey * * * to the Northern Ocean, p. 392, 1795. 

 * Report of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 1875-76, Part IV, p. 581 et seq., 

 1878. 



''Appendix to Ross's Second Voyage, p. xxiv, 1835. 



<« Lyon's Private Journal, p. 48, 1824. 



e Zoologist, Fourth Series, IV, p. 71, 1900. 



/Rept. Prog. Can. Geol. Surv. 1877-78, p. 29e (1879). 



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