62 THE TRUE DOLPHIN. 



a troop of them may be seen scudding along, rising 

 in this manner in quick succession, as if anxious 

 each to get in advance of the other: while again, a 

 single individual may be observed successively ris- 

 ing and falling in the same way, as if engaged in 

 the act of catching a prey. 



In this way, shoals of dolphins may be seen al- 

 most every day, and at any hour feeding or sport- 

 ing in the bay and rivers near the city of New 

 York, where we have sometimes enjoyed an oppor- 

 tunity of observing from the wharf, a large shoal of 

 them moving down the Hudson river with the tide. 

 Some plunging along as if in haste, others appa- 

 rently at play, and others very slowing rising to the 

 surface for breath, and as gradually disappearing, 

 allowing their dorsal fin to remain for a considerable 

 time above the surface. 



From the month of May until towards the end 

 of Autumn, the true dolphins frequent the bays and 

 salt-water rivers of our country, in great numbers. 

 They are most numerous, and are best observed, 

 during the run of the herring and shad, upon which 

 they doubtless feast abundantly; they appear gra- 

 dually to diminish in number, as these fish retire 

 from the rivers and coast, though a small party may 

 be occasionally seen very late in the season. 



During the month of June, the actions of this ani- 

 mal appear very different from what we have no- 

 ticed at any other time. They swam in pairs, re- 

 mained for a longer time at the surface, and seemed 



