374 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. [Oh. XXII. 



various obserTers differ so much that I wished to clear up, 

 at all events in my own mind, any doubt or confusion which 

 might exist on this point. The common impression ap- 

 pears to be that they emerge from the water either to escape 

 from their enemies below, or out of mere wantonness ; and 

 that they disport themselves in the air for a certain time, 

 which lasts as long as their wings remain moist, beyond 

 which time they cannot maintain themselves above the water. 

 But the difficulties of observation are quite sufficient to 

 render it easy for a casual or iaaccurate observer to be mis- 

 led, and it is only after close and continued attention that 

 I have convinced myself of one or two circumstances about 

 which I was long uncertain. 



In the first place, I became convinced that flyiug-fish 

 never leave the water for their aerial journey without some 

 real or imagined cause of alarm ; that they never fly in the 

 air to indulge their sportive humour, or to give vent to their 

 exuberant spirits, but solely to escape from some peril 

 which threatens them in the sea beneath. Their flight, there- 

 fore, is not that of a cheerful and happy animal indulging in a 

 merry sport, as when unwieldy porpoises roll about on the sm*- 

 face on a summer's day ; but it is the despairing and frantic 

 attempt of a terrified creature to escape an imminent danger, 

 which, though it may not always be successful, is more likely 

 to be so in the case of such as are well provided with service- 

 able wings, than of such individuals as are not so well fur- 

 nished. My reasons for this opinion are, that they always 

 rise from the ship's cutwater or bow, and fly directly away 

 from it ; nor do they ever fly towards the ship unless palpa- 

 bly pursued by some voracious fish. A shoal will rise simul- 

 taneously from the ship's bows, and fly away in a series of 

 straight but radiating lines, dropping irregularly into the 



