248 The Dolphin 



steamers, man does not now often get a chance to 

 do them any harm. 



The food of the Dolphin, as before hinted at, is 

 flying-fish and squid, with an occasional feast upon 

 the young of his own species, or any other species 

 that come in his way. I have, on several occasions, 

 found in the maw of a Dolphin that I have caught, 

 specimens of small fish that were quite unknown 

 to me, fish that sailors never see except under similar 

 conditions. So that the Dolphin is like most other 

 fish, he has his special predilections ; but almost any- 

 thing that is eatable in the sea he wiU eat. However, 

 I firmly believed that he only ate living fish, that it 

 was impossible to lure him with anything but an ap- 

 parently living bait, and that, if the play of the bait 

 were allowed to cease for an instant while he was 

 near, he would immediately retire disillusioned, and 

 no amount of coaxing would bring him back again. 



But it so happened that one day, when the ship 

 was lying as still as a ship can be at sea, it being a 

 stark calm, several Dolphin paid us a visit. One came 

 near enough to be transfixed by the granes skilfully 

 hurled by the boatswain, but the others took the 

 pointed hint and kept out of harm's way. The jerking 

 about of a piece of polished metal fastened to a hook 

 dangled from the jib-boom end quite failed to attract 

 any of them. They kept at a reasonable distance 

 from us when on the surface, and only drew near to 

 us about the keel when they settled down into the 

 depths. 



The fish that had been caught was handed to me 

 as usual for dissection, and in its maw I found some 

 flying-fish that had been quite recently swallowed, 

 and not at all injured. One of these I fastened on 

 to a hook, and lowered it quietly into the translucent 



