258 The Sleeping Habits of Whales. 
lie quite motionless for hours at a time.’ 1 I have in my posses- 
sion a large number of log-books of whaling voyages to the 
Greenland Sea and do not find a single instance recorded. The 
recently-published log-books of Captain Scoresby, Sr., tell the 
same tale. 
(2) Whales, presumably asleep, and deeply or entirely sub- 
merged, are sometimes run into by ships. An interesting 
instance is recorded in one of the recently-published log-books 
of Captain Scoresby, Sr. 2 The entry reads as follows (April 
28th, 1791) : ‘ the ship (the Henrietta of Whitby) struck, as if 
she had struck a piece of ice ; being at the mast-head (i.e. in 
the “ crow’s nest”) at the time (I) looked astern and (saw that) 
a whale was laid out without motion (at the surface of the 
water) ; lowered a boat, but she (the whale) settled (i.e. sank 
down) before it could get to her.’ 
(3) Many of the old whalers who were, it may be supposed, 
familiar with the habits of the Greenland whale appear to have 
been of this opinion. According to his log-books, Captain 
Scoresby, Sr., when the whales were scarce, sometimes sent his 
men on the ice to make a noise and disturb the whales which 
he believed to be sleeping underneath. One entry reads as 
follows (12th July, 1820) : ‘ sent away (i.e. lowered) four boats 
and (sent) the rest of the crew on the ice, to make a noise, in 
case any “ fish ” (i.e. whale) was asleep underneath.’ Another 
reads (30th June, 1822) : ‘ called all hands to make a noise, 
by way of disturbing and setting out the fish underneath 
(? recently) we have had many proofs of their sleeping under 
the ice.’ 3 
Again, my father, a very experienced whaler, in some 
notes published by him shortly before his death, in 1986, says, 
Whales can sleep as Well under water as they can at the 
surface. I have often seen them disappear under (a field of) 
solid (i.e. unbroken) ice for many hours at a time.’ 
I have stated that whales probably usually sleep under 
water partly to avoid being molested by birds and I now 
come to the question : Is a whale asleep, at the surface, liable 
to be attacked by birds ? 
(1) Whales and oceanic birds (albatrosses and petrels) 
have the same geographical distribution and flying about over 
the surface of the sea, as is their wont, these birds must 
frequently come in sight of whales and get opportunities of 
attacking them. Moreover, their keen vision and rapid flight 
must enable them to quickly see and reach a whale, and when 
armed with a powerful beak, as some of them are, they must 
1 Scottish Fishery Board’s Seventh Annual Report, Part 3, p. 366. 
2 Log books of Captain Scoresby, Sr. (1791-1822) published in 
fac -simile by the Explorers’ Club of New York, 1916. 
3 The ice here referred to was, doubtless, an unbroken field or floe. 
The Naturalist 
