WHALEBONE WHALES. 
17 
Habits As re S ar( ^ s the habits of the humpback, Captain Scammon states 
that this whale generally prefers “ to feed and perform its uncouth 
gambols near extensive coasts or about the shores of islands, in all latitudes between 
the Equator and the frozen oceans, both north and south. It is irregular in its 
movements, seldom going a straight course for any considerable distance; at one 
time moving about in large numbers, scattered over the sea as far as the eye can 
discern from the masthead, at other times singly, seeming as much at home as if it 
were surrounded by hundreds of its kind, performing at will the varied actions of 
‘ breaching,’ ‘ rolling,’ ‘ tinning,’ ‘ lob-tailing,’ or ‘ scooping,’ or, on a calm sunny 
day, perhaps lying motionless on the molten-looking surface, as though life were 
extinct.” On the coasts of Norway, although generally found in small numbers, 
Mr. Collett states that it is occasionally very numerous—so much so that in one 
instance a steamer had to exercise great care in steering, in order to avoid coming 
into collision with these whales. They were met with in great profusion by Captain 
Gray in 1880 to the north of Ireland, accompanied by numbers of the lesser fin¬ 
whales. Two young are frequently produced at a birth. 
Products The amoun t °h yielded by a humpback is very variable, a 
female with a large young one having scarcely any blubber. Captain 
Scammon states that he has known the amount of oil taken from some individuals 
not to exceed eight or ten barrels, while in others the yield has been as much as 
seventy-five. 
Fin-Whales, or Rorquals. 
Genus Balcenopterci. 
The remaining living representatives of the whalebone whales are known as 
fin-whales, or rorquals, or sometimes fin-backs or razor-backs, and include four 
well-defined species. These whales are distinguished from the humpback by their 
more elongated and slender form and proportionately smaller head, which measures 
from one-fifth to one-fourth the total length, and also by the comparative shortness 
of their flippers. The latter are narrow and pointed, and vary from one-seventh to 
one-eleventh of the total length. The small and recurved back-fin is placed about 
two-thirds of the distance from the head to the flukes, and the latter are smaller 
than in the humpback. The whalebone is short and coarse, and the lateral line of 
the mouth is consequently nearly straight, and does not rise above the level of 
the eye. 
Fin-whales are the most common and widely distributed of all the larger 
Cetaceans, and are far more active and speedy in their movements than right- 
whales ; and since their yield of blubber is relatively small, while the shortness and 
inferior quality of their whalebone renders it of much less value than that of the 
right-whales, they were formerly but little molested by whalers. The yearly 
increasing scarcity of the Greenland whale, and the enormous advance in the price 
of whalebone, coupled with the invention of harpoon-guns, which renders the 
capture of these animals far less difficult than in the old days, have, however, led 
to both humpbacks and finners being regularly hunted. Fin-whales are found in 
nearly all seas except those of the Antarctic regions, and the four well-defined 
vol. hi.—2 
