122 Life of Auduhon, 



too.' I caught several dolphins in' the course of an hour, 

 after which scarcely any remained about the ship. Not a 

 breath of air came to our relief all that day, nor even the 

 next. 



*' The best bait for the dolphin is a long strip of shark's 

 flesh. I think it generally prefers it to the semblance of 

 a flying-fish, which, indeed, it does not often seize unless 

 when the ship is under weigh, and it is made to rise to 

 the surface. There are times, however, when hunger and 

 the absence of their usual food will induce the dolphins 

 to dash at any sort of bait ; and I have seen some caught 

 by means of a piece of white linen fastened to a hook. 

 Their appetite is as keen as that of the vulture \ and 

 whenever a good opportunity occurs they gorge them- 

 selves to such a degree that they become an easy prey to 

 their enemies, the balaconda and the bottle-nosed porpoise. 

 One that had been brained while lazily swimming imme- 

 diately under the stern of our ship was found to have its 

 stomach completely crammed with flying-fish, all regular- 

 ly disposed side by side, with their tails downwards, 

 which suggests that the dolphin swallows its prey tail fore- 

 most. They looked, in fact, like so many salted herrings 

 packed in a box, and were, to the number of twenty-two, 

 each six and seven inches in length. The usual length 

 of the dolphin caught in the Gulf of Mexico is about 

 three feet, and I saw none that exceeded four feet two 

 inches. The weight of one of the latter size was only 

 eighteen pounds, for this fish is extremely narrow in 

 proportion to its length, although rather deep in its 

 form. When just caught, the upper fin, which reaches 

 from the forehead to within a short distance of the tail, 

 is of a fine dark blue. The upper part of the body in 

 its whole length is azure, and the lower parts are of a 

 golden hue, mottled irregularly with deep blue spots. 



" One day several small birds, after alighting on the 



