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Reference :-
mmimmimC.O. 885
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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126
APPENDICES.
From the accounts given by Guldberg, Cocks, Collett, and Haldane, it appears that the Norwegian whalers believe that the calf grows very rapidly (a view shared by Mr. Haldane), and that it remains with the mother for a full year. During this time it continues sucking and attains a length of 40 ft. Specimens of 40 ft. (Guld- berg), and 45 ft. (Cocks), have been captured which had a yellow substance in their stomachs; this substance was regarded by the whalers as being partially digested milk, but Professor Guldberg was not satisfied upon this point. The dam becomes greatly emaciated towards the end of the period of suckling.
Guldberg relates how, during two days at the end of May, 1883, a large number of calves, with which were some full-grown individuals, were observed off East Fin- mark. For a short time they were spread over the whole Varangerfjord where they were feeding in the capelan shoals. The smallest calves were scarcely 20 ft. long, and many of them, not having as yet learned to feed properly, were snapping at single fish. In June, 1883, numbers of young, accompanied by some few full-grown whales, were seen now and again in this district. The older and more experienced harpooners told Professor Guldberg that they had never seen a single finner accom- panied by her young; that on the contrary the young were always in company, a few of the larger calves being together, while the remainder were in larger schools to- gether with some old ones. This latter statement is substantially repeated by Mörch in the passage cited above at p. 118. There is thus evidence that in northern waters the calves are, at all events occasionally, segregated in special "schools." In this connexion it is worthy of remark that no immature females were seen at South Georgia by Major Barrett-Hamilton between mid-November and mid-January, and that the six immature males which he examined there during the period in question were captured between 29th December and 12th January.
The finner is believed to live for about forty years; in old age the blubber becomes hard and yellow (Haldane, Ann Scott. Nat. Hist., 1905).
MIGRATION.
Although finners are by no means sedentary whales their movements, believed to be dependent upon their food supply and to have little special connexion with their breeding habits, are apparently much less extensive and regular than the migra- tions of the humpbacks. Their diet is believed by some writers to be subject to seasonal change, consisting sometimes of fish, e.g., herring and capelan, and at other times of plankton. From his observations at the Shetland stations Mr. Haldane concluded that finners do not feed upon fish when shrimps are present in suitable quantities; that in the locality in question these whales eat herrings principally in the months of July and August; that when they first leave a diet of fish for one of "kril" and shrimps they become lean, although later on, when accustomed to the change, they wax fatter than before. As noted above at p. 110, "krill" or shrimps was the food of all the finners examined in this respect by Major Barrett-Hamilton at South Georgia between mid-November and mid-January.
The best account of the distribution and movements of the finners in the North Atlantic appears to be that given by Professor Collett in his "Norges Pattedyr to this source I am indebted for a large part of the facts mentioned in the following
notes.
Finners are distributed over the greater part of the North Atlantic, ranging from Spitzbergen and Greenland southwards at least as far as the Azores. They are more or less abundant along the whole west European seaboard, along the Atlantic coasts of north-west Africa and North America, and around the various groups of islands.
At Spitzbergen and Bear Island finners occur in such large numbers that they are made the subject of regular whaling; during the summer months, and probably at other seasons also, they are found in the Kara Sea. At Iceland, finners may be observed as early as March, at which season the individuals are generally small and lean, and often appear to be making a northward migration; in this neighbourhood they are present in greatest numbers in the summer, and become rarer again towards The the autumn; the autumn whales are usually large, being 70 ft. or more long. species is stated to be a common summer guest in Davis Strait, as well as at other parts of the west coast of Greenland.
Finners occur at all seasons off the coast of Norway, in which region a larger or smaller number of the young are born. Partly feeding on fish, these whales follow
APPENDICES.
127
On
the spawning herrings along the west coast of Norway, in the winter months, and the capelan on their visit to the Finmark coast in the spring; finners are also found among the plankton swarms and the summer herrings when these approach the west On the Finmark coast coast of Norway during the summer and autumn months. they were observed from April, or even March, onwards until the autumn; they were rarely present in the winter. They were chiefly caught at the end of May or the beginning of June, but quite fresh individuals arrived in numbers frequently throughout the whole summer, and in the beginning of August, and sometimes in September, large numbers could be seen. the west coast of Norway finners were most abundant in the district between Stavan- ger and Trondhjemsfjord; they are often seen in Skaggerak, where, in rich fish years (e.g., 1884, 1890, 1891, and 1896), "schools" of hundreds have been present outside Langesund and the mouth of the Christianiafjord; on many occasions individuals Finners enter Cattegat, and sometimes considerable numbers have been killed here. appearing each year off the Swedish coast, but on the Danish side only scattered stranded individuals are known; they occasionally reach the Baltic, where indi- A number remain throughout viduals have been stranded as far east as Dantzig.
the winter off the west and south-west coasts of Norway, where they follow the great herring fishery; but a large part of them migrate at this season southwards.
From the observations made by Mr. Haldane, during the years 1903-1908, in seasons probably extending from April to September in each year, at the whaling stations in Shetland and at a station on Harris, Hebrides, much valuable informa- tion as to the variable character of the finner population of these districts may acquired. The following table compares the data which he gave for each season respecting the number of finners caught and the proportional numbers of the sexes:-
1904
$REOD.
Shetland Stations.
Norrons.
Shetland Company.
* 3 3 3 Total.
Male.
Female.
20 20 10 Male.
3 88 8 8 8 8 Total.
Female.
Harrie.
Alexandra.
Olna
គ្គ ៥ ដ្ឋ ឡី ថ្មី Female,
Male.
1~ 82 88 62 Female.
Total.
11 28 28 28 28 28
Male.
be
| |
| |
Female.
33
57-742-3
57 | 95
38
36
27
66
40
| 174. 101
73
per cent...
60 100
40
100
57-242-8 100
60-6 394 100
58
42
1905
42
81 48 24
24
87
56
164
81
83
78 45
per cent...
100
57.5 42.5 100
50 100
64-4 35-6 100 49-4 50.6 100
!
1906
20 20
49
21
28
178
84
94
per cent... 100 50
50
100
100
42.9
57-1 100
47-252-8 100
22 10
45.5
12
54.5
!
1907
87
47
40
83
50
?
96 63 33
per cent...
100
54 46
100
41 100
60.3 39.7
100 65.7 34.3
1908 ·
?
?
72
37
165 78
87
51
22
per cent...
Total
per cent...
295 166 100
129 241 132
100 51.7 48.3 100
109
51-4 48-6 100
357 204
1153
691 344 337
247 140
29 43.156.9
107
56.3 43.7 100
54-8 45.2 100 57
43 100 50-549-5 100
56-7 43.3
ས།
47-252-81 100
From the above table it will be seen :- (1) That males were more numerous than females in the following "catches";
catch" the amount of the excess in each case is shown as a percentage of the
-Norrona, 20 per cent.; Shetland Coin- Season 1904.-Shetland Stations: pany, 144 per cent.; Alexandra, 21-2 per cent.; Olna, 16 per cent.
Season 1905.-Shetland Stations :-Norrona, 15 per cent.; Alexandra, 28-8 per cent. Harris, 154 per cent.
Season 1906.-Shetland Station :-Shetland Company, 18 per cent. Season 1907.--Shetland Stations :-Norrona, 8 per cent.; Shetland Com- pany, 18 per cent.; Alexandra, 206 per cent. Harris, 31-4 per cent.
Season 1908-Shetland Stations:--Shetland Company, 3-4 per cent.;
cent. Alexandra, 2-8 per
(2) That males and females were equal in :-
Season 1905.-Shetland Station :-Shetland Company. Season 1906.-Shetland Station :-Norrona.
128
APPENDICES.
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