SEA DRUM AND LAKE DRUM. i 



9 



ing upwards of fifty pounds each." Niles' Weekly Register, July, 1S33, 

 also says : '' Some days ago a haul was made in Great Egg Harbor Bay, 

 near Beesley's Point, Cape May, at which 218 Drum-fish was caught, their 

 entire weight being from 8,000 to 9,000 pounds. This is said to be the 

 largest haul of that description offish ever made in that bay." 



Another still larger, noticed as a great haul of Drum-fish ; " On Wed- 

 nesday, June 5, 1S04," says the postmaster of Oyster Ponds, 1/Ong Is- 

 land, " one seine drew on shore at this place at a single haul 12,250 fish, 

 the average weight of which was found to be thirty-three pounds, making 

 in the aggregate 202 tons 250 pounds. This undoubtedly is the greatest 

 haul of this kind ever known in this country. A hundred witnesses are 

 ready to attest the truth of the above statement. They are used for ma- 

 nure." (The fish, I suppose, and not the Avitnesses, remarked Ingersoll.) 



jSIr. S. C. Clarke has made some interesting communications regarding 

 their breeding habits. The male he informs us, is the larger, and is more 

 brightly colored, particularly at the breeding season. The male drums 

 very loud, the female in a softer tone. Fish under twenty pounds in 

 weight do not breed. About the Halifax Inlet, Southern Florida, they 

 spawn in March in the salt-water rivers. The ova sink to the bottom. 

 They are as large as B-shot, dark brown in color, and are often seen to 

 run from the parent fish when it is captured. In a large fish the roe some- 

 times weighs six or seven pounds. In the northern part of the Gulf of 

 Mexico, according to Silas Stearns, they spawn in April and May in inside 

 waters. 



My own observations upon the Drum have been made chiefly in Florida. 

 Specimens of ten and fifteen inches are abundant in the Lower St. John, 

 and are frequently taken at Jacksonville, even as high up the river as Doc- 

 tor's Lake. Large ones are seldom known to pass the bar at Mayport. 



They are sometimes caught in seines in great numbers and retained liv- 

 ing in the seines until disposed of. Drum-fishing with hook and line is 

 one of the most exciting exploits of the sportsmen of this region. In the 

 Nassau River, large Drum which are sold at Fernandina, are taken with 

 hook and line in the spring. 



The young are often taken in seines at the St. John's River and sold in 

 the Jacksonville market, and are excellent pan-fish, as my own experience 

 testifies. Their flesh is coarse, but tender, and it is thought to compare 

 favorably with any of the salt-water fishes of the region. The large ones 



