130 
GREATER FLYING FISH. 
which are derived from books, but others have been obtained 
from original and attentive observers who have many times sailed 
across the widest expanse of ocean; with the drawback, however, 
that it is probable the remarks have in either case been made 
on different species of this family; for it is far fi-om certain 
that the kinds of Flying Fishes which are known to naturalists 
are all that exist in nature. Still however, as there is a general 
agreement in the mode of flight of all that has been observed, 
our notes on this subject can scarcely fail to be applicable to 
that one which is the special subject of our consideration. 
Flying Fishes are generally gregarious, and it will sometimes 
happen that when perhaps not greatly alarmed, they will do 
no more than scatter themselves widely along the surface of the 
sea; but even when prepared to rise into a lofty flight, they 
will first take two or three shorter leaps before the stronger 
effort is made; and then the buoyant creature is carried so high, 
that it has been known to come in contact with the sail of a 
shiji at the height of forty feet. Hnmboldt is of opinion that 
this is not always for the purpose of escaping from enemies; 
for they are seen to move onwards by thousands straightforward, 
and always in a direction opposite to that of the waves. 
The time during which the flight has lasted has been measured 
as amounting to thirty seconds, and an observer has informed 
me that he believed it to be nearly a minute; during which 
the distance passed over has amounted to two hundred yards — 
an enormous extent to have been executed by a single leap; 
and so much the more worthy of remark, as that the strength 
of this little fish has been so little exhausted by it, that on 
falling on the sea it has been seen to rise instantly again in 
two or three successive flights of somewhat diminished distance. 
Swainson has observed that in rising they sometimes fly off in 
an obliquely angular direction from that vnich they took at 
first, as if they were under an influence by the wings and tail 
after they had mounted above the water; and we know how 
slight is the flutter to be noticed in the wings of many birds, 
where no doubt is entertained that a sustaining and guiding 
power is in operation, separate from that which only suspends 
them in the air. The mechanical structure of the pectoral 
organs, presently to be described, will lend some support to 
this suggestion; and the want of power to vary the course of 
