16 THE ZOOLOGIST. | 
such a shoal avoiding a bird may give alarm to a neighbouring 
shoal some twenty or thirty yards away, which could not possibly 
have been frightened by the shadow or have seen the bird itself. 
This fear of birds and other objects overhead is probably due to 
the habits of Gannets. 
Similarly, a Porpoise coming in among a shoal of fish may 
cause many of them to jump right out of the water in their 
efforts to escape; I have seen Saithe about fourteen inches long 
jump three to four feet out of the water when frightened by a 
Bottle-nosed Whale. So, being naturally afraid of strange 
moving objects and shadows, newly caught fishes avoid people 
in front of the tanks, dash wildly about, and often knock them- 
selves against the rock-work or glass front in their efforts to 
escape from these strange objects, and finally settle in the 
darkest corner available, or, in the case of a white glazed 
earthenware tank, at the bottom. 
In a few days the fish find that the presence of people is not 
connected with any danger to themselves, and begin to come out 
into the better lighted parts of their tank, and soon lose all fear 
of them, but a dipping-net or stick in the water will cause them 
to dash about wildly, and sometimes even to leap right out of 
the water. This habit of leaping out of the water to escape 
pursuit is very common among fishes, but is generally a very 
indefinite effort, and I have failed to notice any marked attempt 
to dodge by leaping to one side except in the case of the Whale 
and Saithe mentioned above. During this stage of losing their 
shyness the fish are greatly alarmed by any sudden movement, 
such as putting one’s hand quickly up to the front of the tank, 
or waving a handkerchief before them, but they soon get used to 
such tricks. During the first few days of their captivity they 
do not touch any food, and when they see shelled mussels or 
other such food falling through the water, they dart away from 
it, and it falls to the bottom, where some of them may find it 
later ; or possibly in avoiding one piece a fish may touch another 
piece with its nose, detect that it is edible, take it and begin to 
look for more. Sometimes a week or two may pass before 
’ hunger overcomes their natural fear of falling objects. Now 
nearly all of our Gadoids are caught on white flies, and so 
cannot connect the smell of mussel, &c., with their late experi- 
