THE RED DRUM. 109 



be fished with comfort or success, as you cannot reach the fish with your 

 line after the tide begins to rise. 



Oftentimes the current cuts out a deep "slough," or sluice, within 

 reach of high water mark. In this the fish are apt to congregate. It 

 forms a space of smooth water between the outer and inner breakers, 

 through which the current flows, carrying in clams, crabs and sand-flies, 

 and in which the fish can lie and feed quietly. In these I take the black 

 drum, and in the autumn of 1880 I took three Red Drum in one day on 

 Brigantine while fishing for the other species. 



In the surf the Drum nudges like the sheepshead when he first takes the 

 bait ; in the deep water he bites like a shark of the large species slowly 

 and heavily, but can be distinguished from the shark when he is hooked 

 by his habit of shaking his head in the effort to throw the hook out." 



The European representative of our Scicena is the Scicena aquila, called 

 " Maigre " by the French on account of the whiteness and bloodlessness 

 of its flesh. This fish has been found from Sweden to the Cape of Good 

 Hope and Australia, but is most abundant in the Mediterranean, and is 

 comparatively rare in northern Europe. The Dutch fishermen believe 

 that they can discern the image of the Virgin in each scale. It is said 

 that in Languedoc it is called the "Royal Fish " (Peis-re) a name which 

 calls to mind the American " King-fish," applied to a closely related 

 form. The ear-stones or otoliths, which are very similar to those of our 

 species, were formerly considered a sovereign remedy for colic, and in the 

 middle ages were set in amulets, to serve as prophylactics. 



The Maigre, the "Sciaena" of the classical opsophagists, the "Onitra" of 

 Venice, the " Fegars" of Genoa, the " Figou " of Nice, is still highly es- 

 teemed, as it was in the days of Ancient Rome and Greece, by the inhabi- 

 tants of southern Europe. The head and shoulders are prized for broiling, 

 as in centuries long gone by when this part of the fish was a favorite trib- 

 ute from the Roman fishermen to the civic magistrates. 



