338 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



out the entrails on the water, when a frigate-bird, which had been hovering 

 over her, swooping down picked up the tempting morsel ; but it had only 

 risen some thirty feet in the air when it fell back on the water lifeless." 



Our American tautog and the closely allied dinner are common about 

 rocks along the coasts of our northern states. The tautog is much the 



Fig. 316. — Climbiug-fish (Aaubas scandens). 



larger ; but the dinner, which weighs on the average about half a pound,, 

 is much the better flavored of the two. Around Boston dinners are eaten 

 in large quantities, but farther to the south they are despised ; why, no 

 one can tell. 



On the Californian coast are a number of small fishes — surf-fishes is 

 the best name for them — which are remarkable from the fact that they 

 bring forth their young alive. These were for a while the only known 



