130 GREATER FLYING FISH. 



which are derived from books, but others have been obtained 

 from original and attentive observers who have many times sailed 

 across the widest expanse of ocean; with the drawback, however, 

 that it is probable the remarks have in either case been made 

 on different species of this family; for it is far from certain 

 that the kinds of Flying Fishes which are known to naturalists 

 are all that exist in nature. Still however, as there is a general 

 agreement in the mode of flight of all that has been observed, 

 our notes on this subject can scarcely fail to be applicable to 

 that one which is the special subject of our consideration. 



Flying Fishes are generally gregarious, and it will sometimes 

 happen that when perhaps not greatly alarmed, they will do 

 no more than scatter themselves widely along the surface of the 

 sea; but even when prepared to rise into a lofty flight, they 

 will first take two or three shorter leaps before the stronger 

 effort is made; and then the buoyant creature is carried so high, 

 that it has been known to come in contact with the sail of a 

 ship at the height of forty feet. Humboldt is of opinion that 

 this is not always for the purpose of escaping from enemies; 

 for they are seen to move onwards by thousands straightforward, 

 and always in a direction opposite to that of the waves. 



The time during which the flight has lasted has been measured 

 as amounting to thirty seconds, and an observer has informed 

 me that he believed it to be nearly a minute; during which 

 the distance passed over has amounted to two hundred yards — 

 an enormous extent to have been executed by a single leap; 

 and so much the more worthy of remark, as that the strength 

 of this little fish has been so little exhausted by it, that on 

 falling on the sea it has been seen to rise instantly again in 

 two or three successive flights of somewhat diminished distance. 

 Swainson has observed that in rising they sometimes fly off in 

 an obliquely angular direction from that which they took at 

 first, as if they were under an influence by the wings and tail 

 after they had mounted above the water; and we know how 

 slight is the flutter to be noticed in the wings of many birds, 

 where no doubt is entertained that a sustaining and guiding 

 power is in operation, separate from that which only suspends 

 them in the air. The mechanical structure of the pectoral 

 organs, presently to be described, will lend some support to 

 this suggestion; and the want of power to vary the course of 



