THE ANIMALS OF THE ISLANDS 203 



beach. The writer then ended the fight with his big rifle. 

 Murphy says that at one time the bat raised its wings out of 

 the water from four to six feet, and that when doing so it threw 

 up such volumes of water that it was impossible to see the 

 skiff in which Farnsworth and I were fighting the fish." 



Swordfish of two species — Xiphias and Tetrapturus 

 mitsukurii — abound here. The latter exceeds the tar- 

 pon as a leaper and a game fish. The exciting catches 

 would make a volume if all were described; some of 

 the records are as follows: 



Swordfish Catches {Tetrapturus) 



Season of 1909 



Pounds 



Sept. 2 — L. P. Streeter 113 



Sept. 3 — L. G. Murphy 141 



Sept. s — L. G. Murphy 163 



Sept. 9 — C. C. Perkins 146 



Sept. 13 — C. G. Conn 339 



Sept. 13 — G. W. Haight 188 



Sept. 13 — Geo. E. Pillsbury, Jr 208 



Sept. 18 — Gifiord Pinchot 180, 186 



Average weight, 184.8 pounds. 



