Experience proves that the whale has its favourite places of resort, depending on a sufficiency of food, particular circumstances of weather, and particular portions and qualities of the ice. Thus, though many whales may have been seen in open water when the weather was fine, after the occurrence of a storm perhaps not one is to be seen; and, though fields are sometimes the resort of hundreds of whales, yet, whenever the loose ice around separates entirely away, the whales quit them also. Hence, fields seldom afford whales in much abundance, excepting at the time when they first “break out,” and become accessible; that is, immediately after a vacancy is made on some side by the separation of adjoining fields, floes, or drift-ice. Whales are rarely seen in abundance in the large open spaces of water which sometimes occur amidst fields and floes, nor are they commonly seen in a very open pack, unless it be in the immediate neighbourhood of the main western ice. They seem to have a preference for close packs and patches of ice, and for fields under certain circumstances; for deep bays, or _bights_, and sometimes for clear water situations; occasionally for detached streams of drift-ice, and most generally for extensive sheets of bay-ice. Bay-ice is a favourite retreat of the whales, so long as it continues sufficiently tender to be conveniently broken for the purpose of respiration. In such situations, whales may frequently be seen in amazing numbers, elevating and breaking the ice with their crowns, the eminences on their heads in which their blow-holes are situated. The most favourable opportunity for prosecuting the fishery commonly occurs with north, north-west, or west winds. At such times, the sea near the ice is almost always smooth, and the atmosphere, though cloudy and dark, is generally free from fog or thick snow. The fishers prefer a cloudy to a clear sky, because, in very bright weather, the sea becomes illuminated, and the shadows of the whale-boats are so deeply impressed in the water by the beams of the sun, that the whales are very apt to take the alarm, and evade the utmost care and skill of their pursuers. South-east or east winds, though disagreeable, cause a violent agitation of the pieces of ice, and so annoy the whales as to induce them to leave their retreat and appear in the open sea. Although the fishery requires a cloudy atmosphere, yet it must be free from fog or continued snow; smooth water, with a breeze of wind, and navigably open, or perfectly solid ice.