OCEAN FISH AND OCEAN FISHING 79 



The following paragraph appeared in the Globe, 

 September 26, 1904 : — 



" The Press Association says a novel capture 

 has been made in the river Medway at Rochester. 

 A man named Buckingham went to witness the 

 launch of a barge, and noticing a fish leap from 

 the water and fly along the surface, he struck at it 

 with his walking-stick, with the result that he was 

 able to capture it. It proved to be a fine specimen 

 of the flying-fish, measuring fifteen inches in 

 length. The ' wing-fins ' are very prominent. It 

 is most unusual for so tropical a fish to come to 

 our chilly shores." 



As soon as an outward-bound ship approaches 

 the tropic of Cancer — i.e., lat. 23^° N. — flying-fish 

 generally commence to make their appearance. 

 I say commence because at first they are seen either 

 singly or, at the most, half a dozen at a time. 

 Sometimes when watching the dark blue water 

 stirred into motion by the steady trade-wind, one 

 is astonished to see an object resembling a big 

 dragon-fly jump up like a jack-in-the-box and 

 skim along in the air close to the surface for sixty 

 or even a hundred yards, and then, as if shot, drop 

 with a splash into its native element. 



It is a flying-fish, probably pursued by a dolphin 

 or an albacore, and its only hope of escape is to 



