342 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



Captain Allen also states that while cruising in the Pacific for whales he has found the 

 Sword-fish very abundant on the coasts of Peru and Chili, from the immediate coast 300 miles 

 out, though outside of that limit they are seldom seen. They are most plenty during the month 

 of January, when they are feeding on the common mackerel, with which those waters at that 

 time abound. The largest he ever caught weighed about 600 pounds. 



Both Captain Allen and Captain Dyer have made several voyages as masters of whaling 

 ships, and are perfectly familiar with Sword-fish on our coast ; both speak of seeing plenty of 

 Bill-fish in the Pacific, but they never had taken the trouble to catch them. Gunther mentions 

 them in his book on the " Fishes of the South Sea." 



In 1874 Dr. Hector discovered a sword-fish snout in the museum at Auckland, New Zealand, 

 and his announcement of the discovery was followed by the publication of two other instances 

 of its occurrence in this region. 1 



SWORD-FISH ENTERING RIVERS. Sword -fish have been known to enter the rivers of Europe. 

 We have no record of such a habit in those frequenting our waters. 2 



Elian's improbable story that they were taken in the Danube in winter has been mentioned. 

 Southey and others relate that a man was killed while bathing in the Severn, near Worcester, by 

 one of these fishes, which was afterwards caught. 



Couch states that a Sword-fish, supposed to weigh nearly three hundred pounds, was caught 

 in the river Parret, near Bridgewater, in July, 1S34. 3 



According to De la Blanchere, one of them was taken, in the ninth year of the French 

 Republic, in the river of Vannes, on the Bay of Biscay. 4 



In the great hall of the Rathhaus in the city of Bremen hangs a large painting of a Sword- 

 fish which was taken in the river Weser by some Bremen fishermen some time in the eighteenth 

 century. 



JJnderneath it is painted the following inscription: 



"ANNO. 1696. DEN. 18. JTJLI. 1ST. DIESER. 

 FISOH. BIN. SOHWERTFISCH. GENANNT . VON. DIESER. 

 STADT. FISCHERN. IN. DER. WESER. GEFANGEN. 

 TIND. DEM. 20. EJTJSDEM. ANHERO. NAEHER. 

 BREMEN. GEBRACHT. WORDEN. SEINE. GANZE. 

 LENGTE. WAR. 10. FUSS. DAS. SCHWERT. WAR. 

 7i. VIRTEL. LANG. UND. 3. ZOLL. BREIT." 



PERIODICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE SWORD-FISH TIMES OF ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE. 

 Before entering upon a discussion of the movements of the Sword-fish and their causes, it 



'HECTOR: Trans. New Zealand Inst., vii (1874), 1875, p. 246. HUTTON : Ibid., via (1875), 1876, p. 211. 

 CHEESBMAN : Ibid., p. 219. 



3 They sometimes approach very near the shore, however, as is shown by the following extract from a Capo Cod 

 paper : 



"A Sword-fish in close quarters. Monday afternoon, while Mr. A. McKenzie, the boat-builder on J. S. Atwood's 

 wharf, was busily at work, his attention was attracted by a splashing of water under his workshop, as if a score of 

 boys were swimming and mitking all the noise they possibly could by beating the water with their feet and hands. 

 After this had been kept up awhile his curiosity became excited, aud upon iuvestigatiug the cause of the disturb- 

 ance discovered a Sword-fish among the piles, where, in his attempts to escape, he had become bewildered and 

 imprisoned. Quickly getting a harpoon, Mr. McKenzie fastened the fish, and with the aid of bystanders drew it 

 alive upon the wharf, where it was visited by many spectators, and subsequently dressed and sold. It measured ten 

 feet from the end of its sword to the tip of the tail the sword itself boiug three feet in length. It is the lirst 

 instance known of one of these fish being so near the shore, and why it should have been there at the time described 

 ia not easily explained." Promncetotvn Advocate, September 29, 1875. 



3 History of British Fishes, ii, p. 148. 



Dictionnaire G6n6ral des Peches. 



