332 Lieut.-Cul. C. D. Dimdovd on 



of the water ^ — the fact that they fly in calms as iu winds — 

 that they come on board ships from lee and weather bides 

 indifferently — that they can and do turn in airf — that they 

 often lose and often gain speed, both from simple causes, on 

 meeting- a wave or on tail-dipping — that they can and do at 

 times gain speed whilst still in air — that they make for lights 

 deliberately — that they rise and fall of set purpose while in 

 the air : all these and much more that has been under the 

 ban are being witnessed and certified to so incessantly that 

 soon only the high-priests of aeroplane will be left contra- 

 dicting them. 



F. G. Aflalo ('Natural Hist, of Australia': ^Mucmillan 

 & Co., 1896) writes: "I have watched these beautiful 

 creatures by the hour and in all weathers, .... but after 

 having closely watched thousands of them through strong 

 glasses, 1 cannot give as emphatic an opinion as 1 shouhl 

 like on the oft-discussed question of whether the wings 



vibrate like those of birds If the pectoral tins are so 



constituted as to be capable of vibration, then 1 would say 

 as the result of my own observations that to some slight 

 extent they do flap, not like those of birds, perhaps, certainly 

 not like those of the bat." 



1 have quoted the above as it expresses markedly two 

 common difficulties: (1) the real difficulty in discerning the 

 movements ; (2) the pre-acquired idea that the wings arc 



* It is difficult to judge distance at sea. Tlie tendency is to under- 

 estimate it. Many observers testify to having seeu Hights of more than 

 a quarter of a mile. Frank Bullen, in his article upon flying- lish in 

 ' Creatures of the Sea,' insists that he has seeu flights of over "a mile. He 

 has had exceptional opportunities for observing them, and I see uo reasou 

 for thinking that he is mistaken. 



t With reference to their turning powers. I mentioned iu the former 

 papor a hsh which I had seeu to turn back in air. I then restricted 

 myself to the bare facts required for the argument. It had interested 

 me, however, much at the time, not only because it was, to me, a rare 

 occurrence, but also because the controlling cause of the fish's remaining 

 and turning iu air was quite evident. The sea was rather calm and the 

 ship was throwing out, with each gentle roll and dip, those broad hissing 

 tallies of white foam which spread away for many feet from lier sides, 

 and die in a mass of struggling bubbles, to reappe'tr as the white broad 

 rushing table of the next dip. The fish had risen independently of the 

 ship, and was flyin«r towards us at full speed, when a sudden slow down 

 marked its perception of the advancing monster. There was no time, 

 however, for it to decide whether water or air was the less perilous before 

 it was over an unusually broad table of boiling foam. The hidden and 

 fearful possibilities of this evidently decided it, jind tlien ensued its slow- 

 but successful struggle to turn and get clear of the concealed horrors. 

 This it did with what must have beeu a terrific eflfurt, but it got quite 

 round and well awav out into the blue water before it dived. 



