48 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER Or FISH AND FISHERIES. 



degrees. During tlic month of November, 1874, tbe small seining steam- 

 ers belonging to au oil and guano company in Fall Eiver, Mass., wliicli 

 has a large factory iu Boothbay, Me., having left the Maine fishing- 

 grounds alter the pogies had left the coast, fell in w ith large schools 

 just outside of Proviucetown Harbor and took 30,000 barrels of them in 

 a short time. 



According to Mr. Heman S. Dill, light-keeper on Billingsgate Island, 

 pogies appear in Barnstable Bay about May 10, not varying over four 

 or five days from year to year. 



Vicinity of Cape Ann. 



81. At Marblehead, Mass., we are informed by Mr. Simeon Dodge, the 

 fish appear about May 9, a larger body appearing in July; their course 

 is northward, their appearance certain. Their favorite locality is at the 

 mouths of fresh-water streams, moving up the creeks with the flood and 

 and down with the ebb. They take their departure in a body about the 

 last of October. 



Capt, F. J. Babson, of Gloucester, Mass., states that the appearance 

 of this fish for the past thirty years has been regular and certain. Tbey 

 first appear in Massachusetts Bay about the 15th of May, and are pres- 

 ent in the greatest numbers a month later. When in deep water they 

 are not affected perceptibly by the tide, but when near the shore run in 

 and out of the rivers and creeks with the tide. They swim low during 

 easterly winds, but in warm and pleasant weather play at the surface. 

 They begin to leave the coast about October 1, and by the last of the 

 mouth are all gone. 



Gulf of Maine. 



82. According to Judson Tarr & (]o,, they come on the coast of Maine 

 about the 1st of June, though they are not plenty until June 20; tbey 

 continue coming until July. They follow the shore coming and going, 

 and their appearance is certain ; they have never been known to fail. 

 They leave the coast about October 1, on the approach of cold weather. 



Mr. J. Washburne, jr., of Portland, Me., states that pogies appear in 

 that vicinity June 10 or 15. They come in two schools; the first, which 

 are small, usually come about ten days before the second school. They 

 remain during the summer and work in shore on tbe flood tide and out 

 on tbe ebb. Tbey leave for the South about October 1 ; in 1874, some 

 were taken l^ovember 4. 



Mr. G. B. Kenniston, of Boothbay, Me., who is largely engaged in the 

 menhaden fisheries, thus gives the result of his personal observations: 

 "The pogies are first seen about May 20 in occasional schools. Tbe main 

 body arrives about June 20, which, passing to the eastward, is followed 

 by others continually for about thirty days longer. There is considera- 

 ble difference in the size of the fish caught. At times, mixed sizes are 

 taken at tbe same set. Usually those arriving at different periods differ 



