The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-02-16
Whales and Their Habits.

A correspondent of Land and Water,
who accompanied the Dundee whaling
fleet to Davis Strait and Lancaster Sound
last summer. mentions the change that
has taken place in the geographical dis
trlbution of the Arctic whale A century
or two ago this animal was found every-
where north of the sixtieth degree of
latitude, and extended many degrees
farther south on the east coast of Amer
lea. 1t abounded on the northern shores
OF Europe and the coast of Iceland and
Greenland, frequenting the islands OF
Jan Meyen and Spitzbergen in incredi-
BILE numbers. Now it has deserted Spitz-
bergen and the north of Europe, it is be-
coming rare ON the coasts of
Greenland, and seems to be re-
turing farther into the unpen-
etrable recesses of the Polar Sea. Whale.
men are not agreed as to whether the
animals are actually diminishing in num-
bers. Some believe that they are still as
numerous as they were at the beginning
OF the century; others predict that the
time OF their total extinction is approach
ing. They are still sometimes seen in
enormous numbers. Whales exceeding
forty-seven and forty-e feet in length
are caught every year. Captain Deu-
chars, of the Dundee fleet, two years
ago took whale sixty-five feet long, the
''bone" of which measured twelve feet
ten inches, and which gave
twenty-four tons of pure oil
The largest whale ever caught in Davis
Strait, in 1849, had a " bone,' fourteen
feet long, and yielded twenty-seven tons
of oil. The destruction of :. suckers -
or baby whales, which is considerable,
may have something to do with the pres
ent decadence of the fishery. Whalemen
think that no animal should be killed
whose ''bone'' is not more than six feet
long. Whales may live to very great,
but no one knows to how great, an age.
Although dead ones are often found
floating on the water, none are ever dis
covered that have died from natural
causes. Whales are homogeneous, and
are much attached to their consorts.
The correspondent who furnishes these
facts tells of an animal which came back
every day for fortnight through great
peril from the fleet to the place where its
mate had been taken, regularly going
over the course followed by her in her
flight, looking for her. The animals
sleep on the surface of the water, enjoy
fine weather and sunshine, and are often
seen at play on bright days. When they
are together in large numbers the water
becomes covered with an oily exudation
from their bodies, which has a sickly
smell and attracts focks of "mollyn pet.
rels. They can live only on the most
minute marine animals, for, though a
whales mouth would hold a whale
boat, with all its crew, its gullet would
be choked by herring. When feeding,
it swims through the water, with its
mouth wide open, constant stream
passing in at the front, through the up
right whalebone plates at the sides, and
out again at the back. The small animals
which form its food are entangled in the
long hairs which fringe the internal
edges of the plates, and from time to
time, as they become collected in suffi-
cient numbers, the whale closes its mouth,
raises its tongue, and swallows the
mass. I" Its favorite food is a black
pteropodous mollusk, resembling hum
ble-bee, and, after this, jelly-ish, of
which it takes millions to make meal.
Fortunately for the whale, these crea-
lures go closely massed togetherin shoals
many square miles in extent. After
man, the whales worst enemy is the
grampus, which attacks it savagely, and
is very destructive to the species. Its
protection from both enemies is the ice,
and it is, consequently, now found al
most exclusively in the neighborhood Of
ice.-Popular Science Monthly.