SKIPPER. 143 



little above the surface, that it is hard to say whether it swims 

 or flies. But, he adds, it is not always thus; and the Skipper 

 will sometimes spring aloft to the height of perhaps a couple 

 of yards, and thus pass over an arch of thirty or forty feet; 

 and although this is very much less than that which is passed 

 over by the flying Fish, already described, yet when we con- 

 sider that there is no extent of wing to sustain the flight, the 

 effort itself of reaching and passing over such an elevation 

 must be regarded with surprise. 



It was the opinion of the older naturalists that this fish was 

 everywhere rare. Willoughby had never an opportunity of 

 seeing it, and Rondeletius only as a curiosity sent to him, but 

 of which he has given a characteristic figure. But these fishes 

 sometimes come to the coasts of Cornwall and Devonshire in 

 very large numbers; so that many thousands have been taken 

 at once in a sean; but as they usually swim near the surface, 

 they are at the present time taken in smaller quantities than 

 formerly, in consequence of a difference in the manner of 

 employing drift-nets for Pilchards. At no distant time these 

 nets were made to float close to the surface, where they were 

 exposed to frequent injury from the passage of ships over them; 

 but at this time they are suffered to sink to the depth of two 

 or three fathoms, which seems to be below the general range 

 of these fishes. In the course of one year of the season, 

 wh.en Pilchards were sought for, the schools that appeared 

 proved to consist of none but these Skippers, to the extent of 

 several thousands at a single shoot of the sean or nets; for, 

 contrary to their usual habits when in a body, they came near 

 to the land; and it was the opinion of the fishermen that such 

 an antipathy exists between these fish and Pilchards, that the 

 presence of the former is an hindrance to a successful fishery 

 of the latter. About the middle of autumn these fish again 

 leave our coasts, and the latest I have any notice of was at 

 the end of November, at which time they have become decidedly 

 fat. As food it is not to be despised, and the taste is said 

 to bear some resemblance to that of the Mackarel. 



Repeated examination of the stomach shews that the food of 

 this fish consists of a great variety of materials. Sometimes it 

 consists of entomostraca, or such small crustaceous animals as 

 are in an early stage of the larger crustaceans, and which 



