INLAND FISHERIES. 11 



alewives, or buckies, are captured. Mr. Lewis, on the ITtli of last 

 March, caught seventeen hundred. During- the early spring flat- 

 fish are al)undantly taken. The spring squeteague arrive about 

 the first of June, when they are small but are said to bear spawn. 

 The regular run of squeteague extends over about four weeks, 

 from earlj'^ in June to early in July. The fish have been very 

 abundant during the past season, fifty barrels often being taken 

 from a single trap at one haul. Sometimes the squeteague are so 

 eager in their pursuit for j^oung herring that they swarm into the 

 shallow water in almost countless numbers, when they may be 

 picked up with the hand and thrown upon the beach. Mr. Lewis 

 tells me that he saw such a school last summer near Sanderstown, 

 and that he waded into the water and captured sixty-three fish. 

 The squeteague of late years has become a very popular food and 

 game fish, and, although it does not endure protracted icing, an 

 increasing number are finding their way to the larger centres of 

 consumption. It appears on the bills of fare of many resorts as 

 " blue-fish," and, although inferior in keeping qualities and in 

 flavor, its abundance has given it a place among the marketable 

 food-fish which the more or less uncertain blue-fish does not 

 enjoy. The fishermen, moreover, look with increasing favor upon 

 the arrival of the squeteague, for when it conies it comes to stay, 

 and it does not drive away other fish. Scup may be taken in the 

 traps, even at the head of the bay, Bristol, and East Greenwich. 

 On the 3d of July seventy-five barrels Avere turned out of traps, 

 near Wickford, as valueless. The tautog is taken in the traps in 

 the spring and fall, although during the summer it is generally 

 caught with hook and line. 



A year ago the cod was so abundant in the traps around Sa- 

 konnet, Newport, and Point Judith that the nets became seriously 

 damaged, and the market became overstocked. Some idea of their 

 abundance may be gathered from the statement that on one day 

 four men in a catboat caught eleven hundred and seventy. During 

 the past fall the cod has not been sufliciently abundant to ruin 

 its market. 



