360 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

this be true, the pike was two hundred and fifty-seven years
old at the time of its capture, when it is said to have weighed
three hundred and fifty pounds.
The Herring. Probably no living thing of its size is equal to
the herring in its value to man. It visits the northern coasts of
England and Scotland in vast shoals, of several miles in extent,
in the autumn of the year, heralded by sea gulls and followed
by dog-fish, both of whom take toll as it proceeds. The an-
nual produce of these little fish is beyond all calculation. The
Scotch fisheries are credited with the capture of over four hun-
dred millions a year, while those of Norway can scarcely be
much less successful. The Swedish fisheries are said to cap-
ture nearly double that number, to which must be added those
taken by the English, Irish, Dutch, French, and German fish-
eries before the grand total can be reached. The enormous
number of hands employed in these various fisheries, to say
nothing of the capital invested in them, marks them out as
one of the most important of European enterprises.
The Flying The Flying fish is about the size of a herring,
Fish. and is furnished with strong pectoral fins, almost
the length of its body, by which it is able to spring out of the
water and sustain itself for a time in theair. It has apparently
no power of guiding itself, or of varying its altitude while in
the lighter element, both the height and the course of its flight
being determined by the direction and the force of its spring.
Its ordinary flight is about three feet above the surface of the
water, and of no very great distance or duration, but it has
been known to fly as high as fourteen or fifteen feet, and even
higher, and a distance of over two hundred yards. Flying
fish often fall upon the decks of ships, where they are wel-
comed as affording a pleasant variety to the sailors’ menu.
They frequent warmer latitudes, but are sometimes seen off
the English coast. They leave the sea to escape the larger
fish which prey upon them, only too often, to fall a prey te
the fowls of the air.