360 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



this be true, the pike was two hundred and fifty-seven years 

 old at the time of its capture, when it is said to have weighed 

 three hundred and fifty pounds. 



The Herring. Probably no living thing of its size is equal to 

 the herring in its value to man. It visits the northern coasts of 

 England and Scotland in vast shoals, of several miles in extent, 

 in the autumn of the year, heralded by sea gulls and followed 

 by dog-fish, both of whom take toll as it proceeds. The an- 

 nual produce of these little fish is beyond all calculation. The 

 Scotch fisheries are credited with the capture of over four hun- 

 dred millions a year, while those of Norway can scarcely be 

 much less successful. The Swedish fisheries are said to cap- 

 ture nearly double that number, to which must be added those 

 taken by the English, Irish, Dutch, French, and German fish- 

 eries before the grand total can be reached. The enormous 

 number of hands employed in these various fisheries, to say 

 nothing of the capital invested in them, marks them out as 

 one of the most important of European enterprises. 

 The Plying The Flying fish is about the size of a herring, 

 Fish. an( j i s furnished with strong pectoral fins, almost 

 the length of its body, by which it is able to spring out of the 

 water and sustain itself for a time in the air. It has apparently 

 no power of guiding itself, or of varying its altitude while in 

 the lighter element, both the height and the course of its flight 

 being determined by the direction and the force of its spring. 

 Its ordinary flight is about three feet above the surface of the 

 water, and of no very great distance or duration, but it has 

 been known to fly as high as fourteen or fifteen feet, and even 

 higher, and a distance of over two hundred yards. Flying 

 fish often fall upon the decks of ships, where they are wel- 

 comed as affording a pleasant variety to the sailors' menu. 

 They frequent warmer latitudes, but are sometimes seen off 

 the English coast. They leave the sea to escape the larger 

 fish which prey upon them, only too often, to fall a prey to 

 the fowls of the air. 



