The long, arrow-like gars are peculiarly surface forms, it being evidently only with extreme difficulty that they leave the surface. Allied to them is _Hemiramphus_, in which the lower jaw only is elongated; and, according to Günther, this interesting fish has a gleaming phosphorescent pustule at the tip of its tail, a circumstance that makes it one, not only of the most unique of the surface forms, but of all the finny light-bearers. Many other forms known to possess luminous spots undoubtedly visit the surface at night, just as many large predatory fishes then come well in shore. Indeed, the night is the feeding-time of the southern fishes; at least, the season when they are upon their travels. At Tortugas, on the Florida reef, the shoal to the west of the key was deserted during the day, except by schools of mullet, small barracuda, and a few others; but at night the sandy shoal seemed fairly alive with large fishes. Man-eaters, ten or fourteen feet long, ranged up and down, readily taking the hook; and nearly all the large fishes, which by day lived upon the outer reef or in the channel, could be taken here; while loud splashes and vivid displays of phosphorescence told that the large rays, indeed the great manta itself, ventured in shore in nocturnal rambles. CHAPTER XIV. LUMINOUS BIRDS AND OTHER ANIMALS. In floating over the great coral reef of the Florida peninsula one day, the boat startled a number of large cranes which were standing upon a small key; and, as they laboriously flew away, my companion, a sportsman of experience, related to me the following incident: “Some years ago,” he said, “I was much more confined than I am at present, and rarely had an opportunity of enjoying hunting during the daytime; so I began a series of moonlight excursions about the reef, generally securing a green turtle, if nothing else, and occasionally a large bird. “One evening I visited one of the large keys; and before I was ready to return the moon had gone down, leaving me in the dark. It was a perfectly calm night, not a ripple appearing upon the water, so that every sound was heard with striking distinctness; and the break of the sea upon the outer reef came to me in a sullen roar, occasionally varied by the crash of some huge fish as it left the water. I was making my way to my boat, when suddenly I perceived on the sands several dim lights. Thinking it the reflection of the stars upon the water, perhaps, I pushed on; and when I was almost upon them, there came a flapping of wings, while above I saw indistinctly the forms of several large cranes, that made their escape before I thought of shooting. The light disappeared with them; and my opinion is, that what I saw was phosphorescent light upon the breast of the birds.” [Illustration: PLATE XXVI. LUMINOSITY OF HERON’S BREAST.]