Big Game at Sea 



feet clear in air, but would not be willing to make 

 affidavit to it, confessing to more or less excitement; 

 and I have had a big one leap so near my boat at 

 night, in a lagoon on the Florida reef, that the 

 return of the fish made waves which almost capsized 

 the boat. The manta has huge, outspreading wing- 

 like fins, a long ox-whip-like tail. In air or water it 

 resembles a huge bat, and in course of aerial flight, 

 its wing-like fins are bent in graceful undulations; 

 altogether, when near at hand, not a reassuring spec- 

 tacle, except to the few men who enjoy the sport of 

 its capture. 



Many of the rays are notable for their acrobatic 

 feats. In Texas a big calico ray, spotted like a 

 tiger, came within a few feet of jumping aboard my 

 boat, and if I had had sufficient patience the feat 

 might have been accomplished, as never was there a 

 more remarkable place for leaping fishes than the 

 shallow lagoon reaching away from Corpus Christi 

 toward the pass at Tarpon. 



One of the interesting fishes of Florida and the 

 Gulf is the kingfish. I have taken it at Key West, 

 to the east up along the keys on the edge of the 

 Gulf Stream, and along the barrier reef which forms 

 the last of the lagoon at Garden Key, forty miles 

 west of the Marquesas. I have seen them in the air, 

 but do not pretend to be an authority on the leap, as 

 those which I took were mostly from a row-boat 

 trolling slowly with mullet bait. Under these con- 



168 



