BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 63 



nets, oue-half of which are fine. These all drift about five miles up 

 the river and five miles down, dragging on the bottom with from 5 

 to 10 feet of net all the while, and of course disturbing the spawn all 

 the way. Now which is the most destructive, the seine drifting about 

 a mile and the gill-net five, 2.1 of the one and 500 of the other, the seine 

 fishing Listing five weeks and the gill-nets three months'? The seine 

 catches an immense number of cat-fish, eels, and mullets, which follow 

 the fish to prey on the spawn. The gill-nets only aid them in extermi- 

 nating the shad and herring. The best evidence of the destructiveness 

 of the ffill-net is the fact that in all the rivers to tlie north of us where thev 

 were introduced years ago they have first destroyed the seines and then 

 exterminated the fish. 



All our fish have decreased perceptibly within the last half century 

 except the perch. That has held its own. May not that arise, first, 

 from its pluck and courage in battle, and, secondly, from its spawning 

 habits ? The male clears out a spot about the size of a barrel-head; he 

 removes everything offensive, and by some means causes the sand to 

 look bright, clear, and as if gold dust had been sprinkled over it. Then 

 he goes off in search of a female, and drives, coaxes, or i^ersuades her 

 to his i)arlor. Then you can see them going around in a circle, and woe 

 to the fish that comes too near. I think the place selected is always in 

 shallow water, and out of the way of all enemies. It occurs in June 

 after the seines have all stopped. 



The flounder has become nearly or quite extinct here.' It has no 

 enemy that I know of except the war loon and kindred ducks — the 

 goggler, for instance, which frequently kills itself by attempting to swal- 

 low a flounder backwards, for such is his greediness that I have found 

 as many as seven flounders in the throat of one dead goggler, the first 

 one having been swallowed backward or tail first. The goggler is smaller 

 than the war loon, and has a tuft of bristles on the top of its head, and 

 can dive a great ways. 



The Virginia or winter shad I never see in our waters or hear of now, 

 thanks to our winter fishermen. I think it is a very indifferent fish, and 

 would not be eaten if we could get a better at that time. 



The gar is nearly extinct. I was talking with '• a down-river giller" 

 this summer (1875) on the subject, and he informed me that gars were 

 exceedingly troublesome by hanging in their nets, and that they killed 

 the gars by thousands, rormerlj^ they threw them overboard alter kill- 

 ing them, but it was soon found that they gave a troublesome hang to 

 their nets, and now they uniformly keep them in their boats until they 

 go ashore. Sometimes their boats get so oveiioaded that they have to 

 quit their nets and go ashore to get clear of them. 



The sturgeon also is becoming very scarce. A man has been fishing 

 for them opposite me all the summer, and three a week is about the 

 measure of his success. Forty or fifty years ago, with such a net as he 

 has, he could have loaded a small boat in three hours. But the great- 



