"[68] I do
not know to what extent these open waters are frequented by whales during
the winter, but in the summer months they are full of them, right down to
the fringe of the continent. Most common of all is the kind of sea-wolf
known as the Killer Whale, who measures 30 feet long. He hunts in packs
up to at least a hundred strong, and as we now know, he does not confine
his attacks to seal and other whales, but will also hunt man, though
perhaps he mistakes him for a seal. This whale is a toothed beast and a
flesh-eater, and is more properly a dolphin. But it seems that there are
at least five or six other kinds of whales, some of which do not
penetrate south of the pack, while others cruise in large numbers right
up to the edge of the fast ice. They feed upon the minute surface life of
these seas, and large numbers of them were seen not only by the Terra
Nova on her various cruises, but also by the shore parties in the waters
of McMurdo Sound. In both Wilson and Lillie we had skilled whale
observers, and their work has gone far to elucidate the still obscure
questions of whale distribution in the South.
The pack-ice offers excellent opportunities for the identification of
whales, because their movements are more restricted than in the open
ocean. In order to identify, the observer generally has only the blow,
and then the shape of the back and fin as the whale goes down, to guide
him.
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