434 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



with line and net. The name Drum, he says, is derived from the drumming noise 

 made by the fish immediately after being taken out of water. " He swims in numer- 

 ous shoals in the shallow bays on the south side of Long Island, where fishermen 

 during the warm season can find them almost like a flock of sheep ; is a dull sort of 

 fish." The Red Drum he considered merely a variety of the Black Drum. Dr, 

 DeKay says of the species, which he calls the Big Drum : " They are gregarious, 

 and frequently taken in great numbers by the seine during the summer along the 

 bays and inlets of Long Island." DeKay adopted a different specific name for the 

 young of this species, and called it the Banded Drum. Other names for this stage 

 given by DeKay are : Grunter, Grunts, Young Drum and Young Sheepshead. He 

 saw the young in September, and states that it is found in New York waters also in 

 October and November. The adults, according to DeKay, are a coarse food, but 

 the young are considered a great delicacy. 



DRUM. 



The Drum is occasionally taken on our coasts as far north as Cape Cod ; south- 

 ward it extends to the Gulf of Mexico. 



The Drum is an occasional summer visitor in Gravesend Bay. In the fall of 

 1896 14 young individuals, 8 inches long, were brought from there alive to the 

 aquarium, and lived until February 10, 1897, when the low temperature of the water 

 (38) killed them. In the fall of 1897 none were seen in the bay. 



In the vicinity of Woods Hole, Mass., the Drum is very rare. Dr. Smith records 

 the first one as having been taken May 7, 1874, and it has been observed only three 

 or four times since. The recent specimens have been caught in traps at Quisset 

 Harbor in the latter part of September or early in October ; these specimens weigh- 

 ing each 4^ or 5 pounds. The largest Drum recorded was taken at St. Augustine 

 Fla., and weighed 146 pounds. The large fish are not much valued for food, but 

 small ones are said to be excellent. 



