320 KEPOET OF COMMISSIONEK OP FISH AhB FISHERIES. [10] 



tliougli they have rather a " fishy " llavor, which is uot especially agree- 

 able to a delicate palate, they are nevertheless, when properly cooked, 

 an agreeable change for the table of a fisherman who has been absent 

 from home several months, and, consequently, has not had an oppor- 

 tunity of obtaining fresh messes other than fish. At present, w^hen our 

 fishermen are enabled to get much better food than any other class of 

 seafaring men, hagdon "pot-pies" or "stews," are not so tempting to 

 them as they were to the codfishermen of an earlier date. I am told by 

 persons who have knowledge of the fiict, that some of the old Marble- 

 head fishermen who had been in the habit of eating the hagdon for many 

 years, acquired such a taste for the peculiar flavor of the bird, that they 

 actually preferred it to the domestic fowl; and when no longer able to 

 engage in the bank-fisheries, would look to the younger men for their 

 supi^lies of hags, which were brought home in the manner just referred 

 to, on the Grand Bank vessels. 



The black hagdon, or sooty shearwatee. {Fuffimis fuliginosus). 



The sooty shearwater, or the " black hagdon" of the fishermen, is in- 

 variably found with Pt(ffinus major, and, doubtless, occurs over very 

 nearly the same area. It is less plentiful on the fishing-banks, how- 

 ever, and, as a rough estimate, I should say that it does not exceed in 

 abundance more than 1 per cent, of the numbers of the great shearwater. 

 Its habits are very similar to tlfose which I have mentioned as being pe- 

 culiar to the common hagdon, and with the exception that possibly it is 

 a little less noisy, the description of the habits of one species may be 

 applied to the other. As the two species mingle freely together, the 

 black hagdon is often captured with its less sooty companions, and is, 

 of course, also used for bait by the " shack " fishermen. 



The pulmae. {Futmarus glacialis). 



This species, known by a variety of names to the i!^ew England fish- 

 ermen, such as "noddy," "marbleheader," and "oil bird " — called a 

 "stinker" on the west coast — is found on the fishing banks north of 

 Cape Cod in winter, and also occurs in greater or less abundance from 

 Sable Island northwardly, during the summer months, though it is most 

 numerous in this region during cold weather. The following notes from 

 my journal, which were made whilenear the northwest part of the Grand 

 Bank, may prove of interest in this connection : 



February 7, 1879. — On western edge of tJie Grand BanTi^ latitude 44° 25' 

 N., longitude 52^ 58' W., "I saw several noddies this morning, but for 

 some reason they would not come alongside of the vessel. I have seen 

 one or more every day (since January 30), but have had no chance to 

 get any." 



February 8, 1879. — Same place as above. ''Saw some noddies this 

 morning and shot one, but did not get him." 



