SKIPPKR. 
143 
little above the surface, that it is hard to say whether it swims 
or flies. But, he adds, it is not always thus; ' and the Skipper 
will sometimes spring aloft to the height of perhaps a couple 
of yards, and thus pass over an arch of thirty or forty feet; 
and although this is very much less than that which is passed 
over by the Flying Fish, already described, yet when wc con- 
sider that there is no extent of wing to sustain the flight, the 
effort itself of reaching and passing over such an elevation 
must be regarded with surprise. 
It was the opinion of the older naturalists that this fish was 
everywhere rare. Willoughby had never an opportunity of 
seeing it, and Eondeletius only as a curiosity sent to him, but 
of which he has given a characteristic figure. But these fishes 
sometimes come to the coasts of Cornwall and Devonshire in 
very large numbers; so that many thousands have been taken 
at once in a sean; but as they usually swim near the surface, 
they are at the ijresent time taken in smaller quantities than 
formerly, in consequence of a difference in the manner of 
employing drift-nets for Pilchards. At no distant time these 
nets were made to float close to the surface, where they were 
exposed to frequent injmy from the passage of ships over them; 
but at this time they are suffered to sink to the depth of two 
or three fathoms, which seems to be below the general range 
of these fishes. In the course of one year of the season, 
when Pilchards were sought for, the schools that appeared 
proved to consist of none but these Skippers, to the extent of 
several thousands at .a single shoot of the sean or nets; for, 
contrary to their usual habits when in a body, they came near 
to the land; and it was the opinion of the fishermen that such 
an antijrathy exists between these fish and Pilchards, that the 
presence of the former is an hindrance to a successful fishery 
of the latter. About the middle of autumn these fish again 
leave our coasts, and the latest I have any notice of was at 
the end of November, at which time they have become decidedly 
fat. As food it is not to be despised, and the taste is said 
to bear some resemblance to that of the Alackarel. 
Repeated examination of the stomach shews that the food of 
this fish consists of a great variety of materials. Sometimes it 
consists of entomostraca, or such small crustaceous animals as 
are in an early stage of the larger crustaceans, and which 
