APPENDICES.
129
PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE
Reference :-
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(8) That females were more numerous than males in:—
Season 1905.--Shetland Station :-Olna, 12 per cent.
Season 1908.-Shetland Stations: -Alexandra, 14-2 per cent.; Olna, 5-6 per cent. Harris, 9 per cent.
cent.
Season 1908. Shetland Station :-Olna, 5-6 per cent. Harris, 198 per
Further, it will be seen from the table at p. 127 that in the year 1906 all the stations, with the exception of Olna, made considerably reduced catches of finners; in this year females were more numerous than males at three stations, while at another equal numbers of each sex were taken; the finners caught were apparently smaller than in preceding years, but Mr. Haldane thought this due to differences in the mode of measurement. Mr. Haldane gave as the reason for the diminished numbers of the finners the fact that the district was invaded in 1906 by large numbers of seihval (B. borealis) a species "which comes nearer land than the finner, and the latter will not associate with the former. Occasionally a small finner will be found near them, but the adult finner keeps away from B. borealis. One captain said there was a regular belt of water (in which there were plenty of herrings) between the two whales. B. borealis left about 18th July and then the finners came back."
One captain reported that for some forty miles between Iceland and the Faroes he passed thousands of finners, and that "whaling was just about over at the time."
The scarcity of whales at Iceland in 1904 and at Shetland in August, 1905, was attributed by Mr. Haldane to the scarcity of whale food; he added that "until full information on the temperature of the currents in these seas has been acquired, and scientific dredging has been done by competent men, we shall never know more than the fact that when food becomes scarce whates wander long distances in search of it."
I have dealt with the facts from the Shetlands and Hebrides thus fully in order to show that there is prospect of acquiring most valuable knowledge concern- ing the migration and breeding of whales if further researches are made in those districts.
In his report on the Belmullet Whaling Station for the season 1911, Mr. Bur- field points out that a greater knowledge of planktonic movements would, no doubt, go far to explain the presence or absence of finners at given places at certain times, and that the weather is an important factor among the causes of such movements.
"Almost all whales passing the west coast of Ireland during the summer Some of the stations further north had bad appear to be moving north. catches on the whole in 1911; three shut down in Iceland where one only obtained 90 whales with nine steamers.
"It is possible that most stations on and just off the west of Europe fish from the same batches which come up from the south and move northwards gradually through the summer. By the time the school reaches more northerly stations its numbers will be diminished and the survivors may be more wary."
Three finners taken at Belmullet on 29th June and 3rd July, 1911, had large quantities of fish (herrings probably) in their stomachs, and one taken on 5th September, 1911, was described by the whalers as a "herring-whale "; all the other "kril " finners taken between 11th July and 18th September, 1911, had fed on (Meganyctiphanes norvegica, M. Sars). In 1913, all examined at Belmullet between 26th June and 8th September had fed on similar "kril," and "no fish of any sort were seen in the stomachs of any of these whales" (J. E. Hamilton).
Mr. J. E. Hamilton says in his report (Belmullet, 1913):-
"During the earlier part of the season the Mystacocetes are stated to travel in a north-easterly direction, during the later part in a south-westerly. If this be so, it may be concluded that the latter is the return journey of those whales which have passed north in the beginning of the season.' The season at Belmullet is from mid-May to mid-September.
Mörch states that in the North Atlantic the distribution of the finners depends at most times of the year on the appearance of their various foods (plankton, cape- lan, and herrings).
"A considerable number must stay in our home waters also between successive summer seasons, following and feeding upon the shoals of caplin But their numbers and herrings at various localities and times of the year.
are not so great as to account for the large schools which migrate to southern latitudes."
On his voyage to South Georgia, Major Barrett-Hamilton observed a party of finners heading south in the Bay of Biscay on 9th October, 1913; one of these finners was seen to be brown above (Journal and general memoranda).
The finner is the only species of whalebone-whale which regularly occurs in the Mediterranean; here it ranges as far east as the Adriatic.
Off the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador it appears to be the preponderat- ing species. After mid-July finners are found in Notre Dame Bay, where they are most numerous in August. In October they become scarce and poor until finally they leave the coast (Southwell, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., (7) vol. xvi., p. 411, 1905). Attention must be called here to the controverted question whether the finners of the North Atlantic belong to one race, or whether, on the contrary, they are differ- entiated into several races, varieties, or sub-species. The whalers of Finmark described three or four forms of finner to Mr. Cocks (Zoologist, 1887). One of these the "Sildehval" (or herring whale) was stated to be a small, dark form with a somewhat higher and more pointed dorsal fin than that of the common finner (“Loddehval "); it was said to occur, often in great numbers, during the herring fishery off the western and southern shores of Norway. The "Loddehval" (or capelan whale) is the common finner of Finmark; this was said to be present in the spring and to disappear from Finmark at the end of April. The "Loddehval" was succeeded by other schools of finners (which were probably of normal appear- ance, since no characters were mentioned) which fed on "kril." Lastly, the whalers recognized a variety characterized by its large size, grey instead of white under- side, and having the anterior baleen plates on one side for a short distance entirely white, while the remaining portions are darker than usual; this form they believed to be a hybrid between the finner and the blue whale, and they therefore called it the "bastard.'
With regard to the 'bastard," no one, so far as I know, has supported the whalers' notion of its origin; Mr. Southwell suggested that it". may be at least a distinct race"; Mr. Cocks, who had opportunities of viewing specimens, thought it to be "simply a Common Rorqual," remarkable for nothing save its large size; Captain Bryde and Mr. Henriksen informed Major Barrett-Hamilton that, in their opinion, it is not a distinct form.
Mörch says that the Finmark whalers distinguish three varieties of finner :- a blackish form which follows and feeds upon the capelan and herrings; and grey and yellowish forms whose times of appearance seem to indicate that they feed chiefly on plankton. One might, perhaps, suggest that the "blackish" form is the equivalent of the Sildehval' : that the "yellowish form is the "kril "-eating successor of the "Loddehval"; and that finally the "grey" variety may be the "bastard" of the older whalers of Finmark.
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Mr. Haldane, who had several opportunities for studying the colour of the whales at sea, thought that variations in the conditions of the lighting under which the whales are viewed are responsible for a great deal of difference.
One morning
he saw on one side of the ship a whale which was absolutely sepia, and on the other, one so dark grey that it seemed to be black; neither of these was killed. The whaling manager assured Mr. Haldane that there really was a considerable varia- tion in colour and that there were three distinct varieties of finner, viz., a large brown whale, the dark grey one, and a smaller black variety. At Inishkea, Ireland, Mr. Lillie observed two types, the commoner with the dorsal surface bluish black, the other with the dorsal surface brownish black; and he pointed out that these colour differences are real ones and not merely light effects as supposed by Mr. Haldane.
Mr. Burfield was told by the whalers at Belmullet that there are two kinds of ordinary finner :-(1) A small variety of the usual dark blue-grey colour above; this is fairly hard to capture, showing an amount of cunning comparable with that of the seibval and of the humpback; "this appears to be the herring whale of the whalers, and to correspond to the smaller (black?) variety, of Haldane." (2) A larger form, having a much lighter dorsal colouration, often with a yellow- ish tinge these are not so canning in their habits, and are more easily caught, being more like sperm whales in their slower movements. "It seems to be certain that there are variations in colour, habits, and food, but whether the varieties can be given even subspecific rank remains doubtful " (British Association Report,
1912. n. 157).
Captain Bryde and Mr. Henriksen told Major Barrett-Hamilton that the small black and the larger grey or yellowish form represent distinct herds which do not