Fishing in the Air 73 



terror-stricken flying fishes. I could hear the splash of 

 their twisting tails as they gathered headway; and we cov- 

 ered our faces with our hands and waited for the impact. 

 One or two passed over the boat, several struck it, and I 

 heard others strike on the rocks ; then a belated flier hit me 

 in the neck, almost knocking me out of my seat, so that the 

 boatman caught and pushed me back. The flier caromed 

 into the boat; and amid our laughter, the boatman baited 

 my hook with the live fish, and a few moments later I had 

 a strike, but the tuna got away. 



Many persons have been struck by flying fishes of this 

 California species, or of others. One man was almost 

 knocked overboard at night, while a lady sitting on the 

 sands communing with nature, received a flier fairly in her 

 lap. At night the bay of Avalon, ablaze with phosphores- 

 cent lights, is the feeding ground of this species, which is the 

 largest and strongest of all the thirty or forty kinds of 

 flying fishes. They can be seen in fiery lines on the sur- 

 face, but I have never been able to hook and play one in the 

 air. 



The question of the flight of these fishes is constantly 

 under discussion. The two parties line up and hold their 

 ground. In our judgment, and we feel that we ought to 

 know, the flying fish does not fly : it soars, and the beating, 

 fluttering of the wings, seen by laymen who go down to the 

 sea in ships, is caused by the violent screwlike motion of 

 the fish's tail when it rises from the water. The wriggling 

 motion of the tail is imparted to the body, and in turn to 

 the wings which flutter under the impulse, but do not beat 

 in the sense of a bird's wing, and even the fluttering ceases 

 the moment the fish is clear of the water, when the four 

 wings are set, and seemingly locked, as the fish soars away 

 over the sea, followed by its nemesis — the bass, yellowtail 

 or tuna. This statement is written, not as a scientific ulti- 

 matum, merely as the judgment of an angler who has 

 watched flying fishes of a different species many times on 



