208 Big Game Fisbes 



July and August ; at least at this time fishes with 

 ripe spawn are observed. The eggs are depos- 

 ited presumably in the open channel ; the very 

 young fish I have never seen. The smallest 

 observed weighed about five pounds. The 

 young resemble the adult, except that the pecto- 

 ral fins are shorter. The adult fish, while it is 

 caught near the island shores, never approaches 

 the mainland, being found from two to five miles 

 out. Always present in vast numbers, feeding or 

 playing, the albacore is a feature of the angling 

 life of the islands and affords no little amusement 

 to visitors who watch its leaps, and the turmoil it 

 creates ; now here, now there, ever wandering, it 

 is a constant menace to the small fishes. The 

 average catch weighs from fifteen to twenty 

 pounds, yet fishes of this size drive the large fly- 

 ing-fishes inshore and often afford remarkable 

 exhibitions of ground and lofty tumbling, almost 

 invariably coming down like arrows. The rush 

 of a school of albacores, as they charge the flying- 

 fishes, invariably arouses the angling community, 

 as every one knows that here are bonitos, and 

 possibly tunas, all forming a pack of sea-hounds 

 crazed with the lust for slaughter. 



" Ahoy ! " comes from a launch over the water, 



