Morris tribune., 1882-02-16
ABOUT WHALES.
Their Habits, Age, Size, and What The,
Eat.
nr--kIr-

Their Habits, Age, Size, and What They
Eat.
Popular Science Monthly.
A correspondent of Land and Water" who
accompanied the Dundee whaling feet to
Davis Strait and Lancaster Sound last
summer, mentions the change that has
taken place in the geographical distribution
Of the Arctic whale. A century or two ago
this animal was found everywhere north of
the sixtieth degree of latitude, and extended
many degrees farther south on the east
coast of Awerica. 1t abounded on the
northern shores of Europe and the coast of
Iceland and Greenland, frequenting the
islands of Jan Meyen and Spitzbereen in
incredible numbers. Now it has deserted
Spitzbergen and the north of Europe, it il
becoming rare on the coasts of Greenland,
and seems to be retiring farther into the
unimpenetrable recesses of the Polar Sea.
Whalemen 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
are still sometimes seen in enormous num-
bers. Whales exceeding forty seven and
forty eight feet in length are caught every
year.
Captain Deuchars, of the Dundeefleet, two
years ago took whale sixty-tive 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 bone" four
teen 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 present de-
cadence 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 age. Al
though dead ones are often found floating
on the water, none are ever discovered that
have cied 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 feet to the
place where its mate had been taken, regu-
larly going over the course followed by her
in her flight, looking for her. The ami
mails sleep on the surface Of the water, en-
joy fine weather and sunshine, and are Of
ten seen at play on bright days. When thoy
are together in large numbers the water be-
comes covered with an oily oxidation from
their bodies, which has sickly smell and
attracts focks of "mally" petrels. They
can live only on the most minute marine
animals, for, thaugha whales mouth would
hold 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, q constant stream
passing in at the front, through the upright
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 sufficient
numbers, the whale closes its mouth, raises
its tongue, and swallows the mass Its
favorite food is black mollusk, resembling
a humble bee, and. after this, jelly fish, of
which it takes millions to make a meal.
Fortunately for the whale, these creatures
20 closely massed together in 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, consequent
ly, now found almost exclusively in the
neighborhood of ice.