90 AMERICAN FISHES. 



taken wherever the mangrove roots extend out into the water, but in shal- 

 lows they are frightened away. 



Little is known of its reproduction. When they first appear on our 

 northern coast we are assured by several writers, they are always thin and 

 unfit for food ; it would seem from this that if their spaAvning season 

 must then have just come to an end. No one, has made any careful obser- 

 vations upon this point north of Florida however. 



:Mr. S. C. Clarke has observed that about New Smyrna, in the Indian 

 River region of Florida, they spawn at the mouths of rivers and inlets in 

 March and April, the sexes mixing together in schools. The eggs are de- 

 posited in shallow water near the shore, and are about the size of mustard 

 seed, and dark. At the spawning season the fish play near the surface and 

 become thin and unfit for food. The young fish are abundant in shallow 

 water among the rocks." 



Silas Stearns writes from Pensacola : 



" The Sheepshead spawns in April and May, in the bays. On June i8, 

 1878, and in June, 1879, I caught young Sheepshead, measuring a quarter 

 of an inch, in Pensacola Bay. It lives about wharves, rock-piles, old 

 wrecks, oyster-reefs, and, in South Florida, about the roots of the man- 

 grove tree, feeding upon the barnacles that grow in such places. It is 

 caught with hook and line, in fall and winter, at which seasons it is in its 

 best condition. Its average weight is three or four pounds, and its maxi- 

 mum twenty pounds." 



Those taken about New York sometimes weigh from twelve to fifteen 

 pounds, though the average size is not more than six. All authorities 

 agree that the Sheepshead is one of the very finest food-fishes in 

 our waters, many persons prefering it to the salmon, while others com- 

 pare it to the English turbot, Avhich, in the writer's judgment, it excels 

 in flavor.* 



•■= How TO IjOIL Fish. — The art of boiling fish is so little understood, that it is deemed proper to insert the 

 following instructions, derived from the writings of Georgiana Hill of London. The method of boiling 

 usually practiced is simply to place the fish in salt water, which should be cold if the fish is large, and 

 hot for small-sized fish ; in the latter case, two or three minutes in the boiling water will be sufficient, and 

 a sheepshead or bassoffniror five pounds will not require more than about ten minutes from the time the 

 water begins to boil. Whenever practicable, use a strainer whereon to place the fish in the sauce-pan. 



Some kinds offish may be first skinned, but carp should retain its skin. 



When only salt is added to the water, the fish is said to be a i'l-aii cie scl. When sea- water is used, the 

 fish is understood to be dressed a V Hollatulaisc. When white wine or vinegar and spices and shred 

 onions, are employed to flavor the water, the fish becomes «« coiif't bouillon, and should the fish be simmered 

 in a small quantity of water, to which is added a savoury seasoning of herbs, it is known as being a la bontie 

 can ; in this case it is generally served in the liquor in which it was dressed ; done in equal quantities of red 

 wine and water, strongly impregnated with aromatic herbs the fish is described asbeing«;< Wtv<, and is almost 



