THE SEJ-BJSSES 



schools on the bars above and below the tide 

 reaches; it takes a market basketful to make a 

 family breakfast. I have seen and counted a catch 

 of these minnow perch that aggregated thirteen 

 hundred, taken by paternosters of many hooks, 

 attached to three lines only." 



The white perch abound in the lakes and streams 

 of the St. John River, New Brunswick, and in the 

 vicinity of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and it becomes 

 landlocked in many waters of the New England 

 States. They hibernate in the deep waters of the 

 bays, and as soon as the ice breaks up, they ascend 

 above tidal waters to feed, which they do greedily, 

 on the spawn of the shad, on insects, small crabs, 

 minnows, and schools of young eels that migrate 

 to fresh waters in the early spring. 



The white or silver bass, in some localities called 

 the fresh-water sheep's-head, is ichthyologically the 

 Roccus chrysops ; the generic from rockfish, the old 

 name of the striped bass, and the specific from two 

 Greek words, " gold "and " eye," in reference to the 

 shading upon the eye of the fish. It is very abun- 

 dant in the Great Lakes, and at the mouths of rivers 

 flowing into them, and is being very generally intro- 

 duced into eastern waters. It is a fair fish on 

 the rod, and its flesh is flaky and sweet ; it seldom 

 exceeds two pounds in weight. 

 143 



