432 NATURAL HISTORY 



Exocomrs. (Gr. 'Eoko/rof, sleeping out [of the sea].)* 



Volitans (Lat. flying}, the Flying-fish. 



and pounce on the FLYING -FISH from above, so that the perse- 

 cuted creatures are tolerably sure to fall a prey to one or the 

 other of their foes. 



The usual height of flight is about two or three feet above 

 the surface of the water, but it has frequently been known to 

 exceed fourteen feet, and in one instance a Flying-fish came 

 skimming into the ports of a large man-of-war, nearly twenty 

 feet above the water. 



The size of the fish is about the same as that of a herring. 

 Sailors are always glad to capture it, as its flesh proves an 

 agreeable change from the eternal salt junk, by which the power 

 of the sailor's teeth is woefully tried. 



The food of this fish is molluscs and small fishes. 



THE SALMON. 



The SALMON is a migratory fish, annually leaving the sea, 

 its proper residence, and proceeding for many miles up rivers 

 for t^e purpose of depositing its spawn. This duty having 



* The ancients believed that this and other fishes slept on the beach. 



