196 THE OCEAN. 



iu the sun, suddenly detected a shoal of Flying-fish 

 rising from the sea at some distance. With the 

 rapidity of lightning he wheeled round, made one 

 tremendous leap, and so timed his fall as to arrive 

 fairly at the place where our little friends, the Fly- 

 ing-fish, were forced to drop into the sea to refresh 

 their weary wing. A flight of sea-gulls now joined 

 in the pursuit; we gave up our proteges for lost, 

 when, to our great joy, we beheld them rising again, 

 for they had merely skimmed the wave, and, thus 

 recruited, continued their flight. Their restless foe 

 pursued them with giant strides, now cutting the 

 wave, which flashed and sparkled with the reflection 

 of his brilliant coat, and then giving one huge leap, 

 which brought him up with his prey: they seemed 

 conscious that escape was impossible; their flight 

 became shorter and more flurried, whilst the Dolphin, 

 animated by the certain prospect of success, grew 

 more vigorous in his bounds; exhausted, they drop- 

 ped their wings, and fell one by one into the jaws 

 of the Dolphin, or were snapped up by the vigilant 

 Gulls.' 1 * 



Captain Basil Hall has described a very similar 

 scene in nearly parallel terms; but, to prevent mis- 

 understanding, lie also informs his readers that "the 

 Dolphin" of his narrative is the Gorypho&na hippuris 

 of naturalists, and a true fish. 



"Shortly after observing a cluster of Flying-fish 



rise out of the water, we discovered two or three 



Dolphins [Coryphenes] ranging past the ship, in all 



th'-ir beauty; and watched with some anxiety to 



* Miss Lloyd's Sketches of Lermuda. 



