n fighting-fish never needs
to work for a living, he can easily be supported by the winnings of his
possession. Often a fish or a team of fishes is owned by a village and
the rivalry between communities is intense. The Siamese are inveterate
gamblers, also, and in more than one instance the Siamese Government has
had to send supplies to a village which was threatened with famine
because all the villagers had lost their crops through betting upon the
success of their team of fighting-fish."

"You say it's a kind of perch?"

"Only distantly," was the reply; "it belongs to a very curious group of
fishes which cannot live long in the water unless they can breathe air
once in a while, nor can they live very long in air, unless they breathe
water occasionally. The fish that climbs tall trees is a member of the
same sub-order."

"You mean the skippy?"

"No," the scientist answered; "it's a much better climber than the
skippy. It will run up the trunk of a palm tree."

"Now come, Dr. Jimson," expostulated Colin. "Do you expect me to believe
that?"

"Certainly, when it is true," came the reply. "The statement often has
been made and then disbelieved, but there is plenty of scientific
evidence now to arm its truth."

"Does it climb up to the top and crack cocoa-nuts?" queried the boy,
still incredulously.

"Not quite that," his friend said, smiling. "I believe seven feet is as
high a climb as is known, that being recorded officially by one of the
staff of the Madras Government Central Museum. The creature usually only
climbs during a heavy tropical rainstorm, and it is believed that the
fish, accustomed to ascending tiny streams, is stimulated to climb the
tree by the rush of water flowing down the bark. The gill cover is
movable, and the spines of the ventral fins very sharp. It doesn't go up
head first, you know, but sideways."

"How does the fish climb down, then?" queried Colin.

"Tumbles," was the laconic reply.

"And starts up again?"

"No, it usually hops sideways over land to a mud-bank again, not to
have another climbing fit until the next big tropical shower comes after
a period of drought. But if you wanted to find out all the strange
habits of fishes," continued his friend, as the schooner ran into New
Bedford harbor, "it would take more time than one swordfish trip would
give you."

[Illustration: CLAMMER RAKING FOR QUAHAUGS IN NEW BEDFORD HARBOR.

_Courtesy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries._]

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