112 AMERICAN FISHES. 



1870, when it was no longer to be met with, and for several years it was 

 entirely unknown in these waters : so much so, indeed, that fishermen of 

 many years' experience were totally unacquainted with its characteristics. 

 In 1867 or 1 868, however, scattering individuals were taken on the south 

 coast of Massachusetts, and in 1S70 they were quite abundant and have 

 since held their own. But they are nowhere at any season so abundant as 

 in summer along the stretch of shore from Norfolk to Nantucket. They 

 arrive with the bluefish in late May and early June, are most abundant in 

 August, and depart in advance of the bluefish at the very beginning of 

 autumn. They swim in large schools at the surface, pursuing the men- 

 haden and scup, on which they savagely feed. I have frequently seen a 

 thousand or more taken in one night in one of the weirs on Martha's 

 Vineyard Sound. 



The most remarkable draft on record is that referred to in July, 1881, by 

 Mr. Barnet Phillips in the New York Times : 



"A great catch of Weakfish was made yesterday about two miles off 

 Rockaway Beach, by the steam smacks " E. T. DeBlois," Capt. J. A. 

 Keene ; "Leonard Brightman," Capt. Elijah Powers, and "J- W. Haw- 

 kins," Capt. J. W. Hawkins. These smacks are engaged in the men- 

 haden or " mossbunker " fishery for the oil-rendering and fish-scrap works 

 on Barren Island, and were cruising off Rockaway yesterday in search of 

 schools. About noon a vast school of what the fishermen supposed at first 

 to be menhaden was discovered stretching along the coast for miles. To 

 borrow their language, ' The water was red with the fish, but they didn't 

 break the surface as menhaden always do.' The boats were lowered, the 

 seines spread, and then it was discovered that the school was of Weakfish 

 and not menhaden. ' I have been in the business for twenty years,' said 

 the mate of the ' Brightman,' ' and I never saw anything like it before.' 

 The fish varied in length from one and a half to three feet, and in Aveight 

 from three to seven pounds. The ' DeBlois ' took over 200 barrels, the 

 'Hawkins' 150 barrels, and the 'Brightman' 350 barrels. The entire 

 catch was estimated at something over 200,000 pounds, which, at the 

 ordinary market price for Weakfish — seven cents a pound — would amount 

 to $14,000. But, of course, the market price could not be maintained 

 in the presence of such a catch as this." 



The Squeteague comes on the coast of New England in summer in pur- 

 suit of food. Its wanderings do not often carry it north of Monomoy. 

 "In the days of my boyhood," said Capt. Atwood, when before the 

 Rhode Island Legislature in 1S71, "my neighbors often spoke of a fish 

 called the ' drummer,' Avhich is the same variety that you call the Sque- 



