The Drum Family 217 



prey, and go out again with the ebb ; at least this 

 is the habit of the largest fish, known as " tide- 

 runners." Smaller fish probably remain in the 

 bays and bayous, resorting to deep holes at low 

 water. 



Its breeding habits are not well understood, 

 though it spawns in the bays in early summer, 

 about May or June. The eggs are quite small, 

 about thirty to the inch, are buoyant or floating, 

 and hatch in a few days, usually in two. I have 

 taken many hundreds in Chesapeake Bay in 

 August, but do not remember ever catching 

 one containing roe during that month. It is an 

 excellent food-fish if perfectly fresh, but soon 

 deteriorates, becoming quite soft and losing its 

 characteristic flavor when out of the water a few 

 hours. It is quite an important commercial fish 

 during summer in the eastern markets. Small 

 ones, below a pound in weight, are delicious pan- 

 fish ; larger ones should be baked. Its usual 

 weight is two or three pounds, and its maximum 

 ten or twelve ; occasionally they are taken still 

 heavier — twenty or twenty-five pounds. 



Being a surface feeder it is a good game-fish 

 on light tackle, taking bait or an artificial fly with 

 a rush and snap that reminds one of a, trout, 



