39 8 AMERICAN FISHES. 



clined to believe that it is due to the diminution, and in many instances 

 to the extermination, of the Alewives. As already remarked, before the 

 construction of dams in the tidal rivers the Alewife was found in incredi- 

 ble numbers along our coast, probably remaining not far from shore, 

 excepting when moving up into the fresh water, and at any rate spending 

 a considerable interval off the mouths of the rivers either at the time of 

 their journey upward or on their return. The young, too, after returning 

 from the ocean, usually swarmed in the same localities, and thus furnished 

 for the larger species a bait such as is not supplied at present by any other 

 fish, the sea Herring not excepted. We know that the Alewife is particu- 

 larly attractive as a bait to other fishes, especially for cod and mackerel. 

 Alewives enter the streams on the south coast of New England before the 

 arrival of the bluefish ; but the latter devote themselves with great assiduity 

 to the capture of the young as they come out from their breeding ponds. 

 The outlet of an alewife pond is always a capital place for the bluefish, 

 and, as they come very near the shore in s-uch localities, they can be 

 caught there with the line by what is called ' heaving and hauling,' or 

 throwing a squid from the shore and hauling it in with the utmost rapidity. 



"The coincidence, at least, in the erection of the dams, and the enor- 

 mous diminution in the number of the Alewives, and the decadence of the 

 inshore Cod fishery, is certainly very remarkable. It isprobable, also, that 

 the mackerel fisheries have suffered in the same way, as these fish find in 

 the young Menhaden and Alewives an attractive bait. 



"The same remarks as to the agency of the Alewife in attracting the 

 deep-sea fishes to the shores, and especially near the mouths of rivers, 

 apply in a proportional degree to the Shad and salmon." 



The Inland Alewife or Skipjack, Clupea chrysochloris, which is found in 

 many parts of the Mississippi Valley, has recently been found by Mr. Silas 

 Stearns in the salt water off Pensacola — a surprising circumstance, since 

 the species was thought to be an inhabitant of fresh water exclusivelv. " It 

 is known to most inland fishermen as the ' Skipjack,' ' writes Prof. Jordan, 

 " in allusion to its habit of leaping from the water. It is also sometimes 

 called ' Shad ' and ' Herring.' It is abundant throughout the Mississippi 

 Valley in all the larger streams. In the neighborhood of the ocean it 

 descends to the Gulf, but in the upper courses it is permanently resident. 

 It has also entered Lake Michigan and Lake Erie since the construction 

 of the canals. It reaches a length of a little more than a foot. It feeds 

 on small crustaceans, worms, and the like, rarely taking the hook. As a 

 food-fish it is regarded as wholly worthless, its flesh being poor and dry 

 and full of innumerable small bones." 



The Shad appears to have been considered by early American writers 



