176 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. 



THE ALEWIFE. 



THIS species (tyranus), of the same genus as the fine fish 

 just treated of, is the gaspereau of the Canadians, the ale- 

 wife of the New England states, and the herring of the 

 Middle and Southern States. The means to be used for 

 its restoration to the streams from which it has been driven 

 are so identical with those now being resorted to for the 

 purpose of bringing back shad and salmon, that I have not 

 thought it necessary to make more than this brief allusion 

 to it. 



One habit of this species, here and further south, is 

 somewhat different from the habit which prevails with it at 

 the north. I allude to its entering very small streams to 

 spawn. In the Delaware it does not ascend the upper 

 waters as far as the shad, not being abundant above the 

 terminus of the tide. The same may be said of it to the 

 southward. Here, as in the Eastern states, there are 

 several runs differing in size, the earlier being larger fish. 

 South they have been, and continue to be, so abundant 

 that no thought of their becoming scarce has ever been 

 entertained. As an evidence of their abundance, I quote 

 as follows from the "American Anglers' Book:" 



" In Maryland and Virginia they have even been used 

 as manure, as the small species known as 'manhaden' and 

 ' mossbunkers' have been farther north. In Virginia and 

 North Carolina, the custom of visiting the ' fishing-shores' 

 annually for a supply of herrings to salt down, still exists 

 as an ' institution/ and the inhabitants for many miles back 



