WING SHOTS AT SEA. 



Charles Frederick Holder. 



Ff you want to see something orig- 



J_ inal in the way of sport," said a 

 dweller on Santa Catalina, the 

 famous summer resort of southern Cali- 

 fornia, ''bring your shot gun down 

 to-morrow morning." Thinking it was 

 to be a hunt for quail, in which the 

 island abounded, or possibly pheasant, 

 I went so equipped, when to my sur- 

 prise the Catalinian led the way to his 

 boat in which we were soon moving 

 through the water, propelled by the 

 lusty strokes of one of the island boat- 

 men. 



" I suppose you thought we were 

 going for birds," said my friend, " and I 

 venture you cannot guess what we are 

 after now." 



I began on gulls, and went through 

 the list to pelicans and eagles, which 

 were common enough, but to all these 

 my companion gave a decided negative. 

 On we went, along the south side of the 

 island, where the hills rise abruptly 

 from the sea in lofty cliffs and reach 

 back range after range. Here the rains 

 of centuries have cut deep canyons down 

 through the mountains, and at one place 

 during violent winter storms, the water 

 poured down a fall of nearly one hun- 

 dred feet into the sea. 



As we rounded a rocky point I sud- 

 denly saw a splash ; then a light object 

 came skimming over the sea like a huge 

 dragon fly. My companion seized his 

 shot gun, and as the gauzy, silvery ob- 

 ject flashed by he fired, dropping a flying 

 fish, which the boatman deftly retrieved 

 before it sank. Before I could recover 

 from my astonishment at this novel 

 shooting, a huge fish, apparently four feet 

 in length, leaped from the water, rising 

 gracefully five feet or more, and turning, 

 to come down like an arrow, just missing 

 a flying fish that was shooting ahead. 

 Confused by the exciting episode, I tried 

 to fire at half-cock, but by the time I 

 was ready the fish was out of range and 

 far away. 



We now turned a point where the 

 wind was blowing freshly, and, as we 

 passed a big rock, a large fish flushed a 



covey of flying fishes, as skillfully as 

 a dog flushes woodcock. Then other big 

 fish joined in the chase, and in a few 

 moments a shower of flying fishes dashed 

 into the air, that seemed filled with their 

 glittering bodies and gleaming wings. 

 The wind was strong and seemed to have 

 a lifting power as the fishes soared up- 

 ward ten or fifteen feet, then darted 

 away in circles like a flock of birds. 

 They seemed to cover a distance of an 

 eighth of a mile in some cases, disap- 

 pearing before they fell into the water. 

 As they went in every direction several 

 came directly toward the boat. Once 

 while quail shooting in the San Gabriel 

 valley a quail came at and would have 

 struck me in the face had I not dodged, 

 and this seemed a similar instance, as 

 we were literally bombarded by the 

 finny game. One which I had selected 

 turned gracefully and came directly for 

 the boat. Astonished, I failed to fire,, 

 as did my companion, and the fish came 

 on like an arrow, and probably would 

 have struck me had I not turned aside. 

 As it was, another fish struck the oars- 

 man, and another came in contact with 

 the boat. 



Another dash of the big fish, and an- 

 other covey of the fliers burst into the 

 air like a flock of brilliant dragon flies, 

 their gauze-like wings flashing in the 

 sunlight. As they shot by over our heads 

 we took them with right and left barrels. 

 A most remarkable experience — shoot- 

 ing flying fish with horse mackerel to 

 flush the game ; and that they faithfully 

 retrieved them in their own interests 

 was evident by the rushes when a fish 

 fell, and its complete disappearance. 



These " flushers" were from three to 

 six feet in length, and weighed from 

 forty to two hundred pounds ; present- 

 ing a magnificent appearance as they 

 dashed away ; now on the top of the 

 water, churning it into foam or leaving 

 it entirely, to leap into the air after a 

 flying fish, often striking the terrified 

 creatures and sending them whirling up- 

 ward like pin wheels. 



For some moments there would not 



