35 2 Recreations of a Sportsman 



Avalon she was struck by a flier, despite her 

 efforts to avoid it; while another passed within 

 a few inches of my head. Another dashed into 

 the lap of a lady, who was sitting on the beach 

 twenty feet from the water, much to her astonish- 

 ment. Upon one occasion when fishing along- 

 shore at nightfall at Santa Catalina the tunas 

 flushed a school of flying fishes, and one of the 

 heavy missiles struck me fairly in the neck, 

 knocking me backward, into the arms of my 

 boatman, and for the next ten minutes we moved 

 through the school with heads lowered expect- 

 ing to be bombarded at any moment, as the fly- 

 ing fishes were in the air all about us. 



That the wind is an important factor in long 

 flights was evident upon many occasions. Once 

 while cruising in a power launch I sat in 

 the bow and indulged in the sport of shooting 

 flying fishes. The3 r would break water at about 

 the distance a quail might be expected to rise, 

 sometimes two or three at a time, affording fair 

 and certainly novel sport. As we rounded the 

 south end of the island a heavy wind was blow- 

 ing. Suddenly a band of albacores rushed in- 

 shore driving large numbers of flying fishes into 

 the air. I saw twenty or thirty in a single flock 

 that took the air at the same moment, then, 

 caught by the fierce gusts of wind they were 

 lifted thirty or more feet upward, just as a soar- 

 ing bird rises; at this altitude turning gracefully 



