The Sleeping Habits of Whales. 259 
be able to inflict a painful wound and, perhaps, remove a 
piece of skin and fat. 
(2) Oceanic birds are extremely fond of a bit of whale 
blubber and they will run great risks to obtain it. These 
birds have, therefore, a motive for attacking whales. Hear 
what Scoresby has to say about the Fulmar Petrel. ‘ Fulmars 
are extremely fond of the fat of the whale. Though few should 
be seen when a whale is being captured, yet, as soon as the 
flensing process commences, they rush in from all quarters 
and frequently accumulate to the number of many thousands. 
They then occupy the greasy track of the ship and, being 
audaciously greedy, fearlessly advance within a few yards of 
the men cutting up the whale. If, indeed, the fragments of 
fat do not float sufficiently away, they approach so near the 
scene of operations that they are knocked down with boat- 
hooks in great numbers and sometimes taken up by hand.’ 1 
(3) Scoresby, to whom I make no apology for quoting so 
often, says that ‘ when carrion is scarce, the fulmars follow 
the living whale.’ 2 He also says that the Greenland whale is 
afraid of the fulmar and that when one alights on its back 
it sets off in great agitation and terror.' 3 On one occasion, 
when a boat was approaching a whale which was lying at the 
surface and when the harpooner was about to strike his harpoon 
into the animal’s back ‘ it sank at the moment in a fright, 
occasioned, not by the approaching boat, but by a fulmar’s 
darting on its back and plunging its beak into its skin.’ 4 
Manby also says that Fnlmar’s also pursue Whales. 5 
(4) A whale lying motionless at the surface ( e.g . a whale 
asleep) is at the mercy of a bird. In these circumstances the 
whale’s only protection is its skin. In the right whales the 
skin is thick, but in the Fin -whales or * Finners ’ it is very 
thin and the coveted blubber lies very near the surface. 6 
Is the dorsal fin of the Fin whales a protection against 
birds ? Is it a kind of periscope ? And is one of its functions 
the advising of the whale when it is motionless and floating 
upwards, which must sometimes happen, that its tender back 
is about to be exposed and that it is time to sink down again 
or get under weigh ? 
I also wish to refer to certain rudiments met with in the 
dorsal region of the porpoise. These rudiments suggest that 
1 Arctic Regions, Vol. 1, p. 529. 2 Arctic Regions, Vol. 1, p. 531. 
3 Arctic Regions, Vol. 1, p. 474. 4 Journal of a Voyage, p. 125. 
5 Journal of a Voyage to Greenland in 1821. 
6 In the Greenland whale the epidermis is about an inch thick and 
the ‘ Finners ’ not more than an |in. In the calf of the Greenland 
whale the epidermis, according to Scoresby, is about 2 -in. in thickness. 
In the case of a calf killed in 1811, the epidermis was if in. (See a 
log-book preserved in the Whitby Museum). 
1933 Nov. 1 
