S 34 F L Y I N G F I S H. Glass IV. 



Gulls, or the Albatrofs, or is forced down again 

 into the mouth of the inhabitants of water, who 

 below keep pace with its aerial excurfion. Neither 

 is it unfrequent that whole fhoals of them fall on 

 board of fhips that navigate the leas of warm cli- 

 mates : it is therefore apparent, that nature in this 

 creature hath fupplied it with inftruments that fre- 

 quently bring it into that deftruction it ftrives to 

 avoid, by having recourfe to an element unnatural 

 to it. 



The antients were acquainted with this fpecies : 



Pliny mentions it under the name of Hirundo, and 



fpeaks of its flying faculty. It is probable that 



Oppian intended the fame by his Hheim x^oveg, or 



the fwift fw allow fifli. What Athenaus and the 



laft cited author mean by the EImmitoj and ASwwj, 



is not fo evident : they affert it quitted the water 



and ftept on the rocks, from whence it tumbled 



with precipitation when disturbed by the unfriendly 



birds : on thefe accounts Icthyologiits leem to have 



made it fynonymous with the flying fijh. 



p esc rip. It refembles the herring in form of the body, 



but the back is flat : the leaks large and filvery : 



the dorfal fin is fmall, and placed near the tail : 



the pecToral fins, the inftruments of flight, are 



almolt as long as the body : the tail is bifurcated, 



Eight 



