FISHERY INDUSTRIES. 61 
Sitka on the dates given, the following numbers of packages of eggs were shipped to 
the places indicated: 
- 
Date. | Packages. Destination. Date. Packages. Destination. 
1914. 1914 
Apr. 1.... 1 | Chatham. Apr. 76-2. 14 | Douglas. 
O- 12 | Killisnoo. Apr. 12... 1 | Chatham. 
Do.. 2 | Tenakee. Do.:. 19 | Hoonah. 
Do.. 12 | Hoonah. Do... 3 | Haines and Klukwan. 
Do.. 2 | Funter. DO sere 19 | Juneau. 
Do. 7 | Douglas. ——_—— 
Do 20 | Juneau. Total. 114 
Apr. 6 2 | Hoonah. 
This makesa total of 114 boxes and sacks shipped on the three trips of the one steamer. 
The above figures show an incalculable number of eggs destroyed, but far greater num- 
bers were carried away in the boats of the natives who had come from other villages to 
secure them. Of these there are no figures available, nor is there any way of estimat- 
ing the amounts kept in the village and vicinity for future use or the amounts con- 
sumed fresh, but on every hand were to be seen both old and young natives devouring 
the eggs, fresh and cooked. By the natives they are considered a great delicacy, but 
to the average white person they are wholly insipid. Atthe Sheldon Jackson school for 
natives at Sitka the demands for these eggs became so insistent that the management 
was finally prevailed upon to serve one or more meals of them to satisfy the children. 
The fresh eggs are eaten either without cooking of any kind or after having been 
placed for a few minutes in slightly saited boiling water. If the eggs have been dried, 
the entire frond or branch is boiled for a few minutes in slightly salted water. In this 
case the eggs come off and sink to the bottom of the vessel, after which the vegetation 
is removed by picking out the larger pieces and skimming away the floating trash. 
Although the operations of the natives destroy great quantities of herring eggs, 
their destruction is insignificant in comparison with the natural enemies and the 
seiners, the destructiveness of both of which is shown in the following portion of this 
report. : 
The most destructive of the enemies of the herring are the myriads of water fowl of 
the region. As the time of spawning approaches and the herring school up in the 
vicinity of their grounds, these winged hordes congregate in the vicinity in vast flocks, 
best described as clouds of birds, and remain there the entire time that the herring 
are about. 
The greatest numbers of birds observed or reported were at Craig, which is not far 
from their breeding grounds. [rom the time the fish first appear in the region, usually 
early in the winter, the birds begin to collect. During this time they feed on the adult 
herring, and by the time the herring are ready to spawn many of the migratory birds 
have arrived to augment the flocks. They prey on these fish from daylight until 
dark for the entire time and practically without cessation, often becoming so gorged 
as to be unable to fly; but as soon as the food becomes somewhat digested they are 
filling themselves again. When they are thus gorging themselves, it is a common 
sight to see a gull take half a dozen adult herring in as many minutes, if the fish are 
crowded or confined so as to be unable to escape. 
During the spawning season these vast voracious flocks feed almost exclusively on 
the eggs of the herring. At Craig 19 birds were collected and their stomachs examined 
to ascertain the contents. Of this number there were only three not gorged to their 
utmost capacity with the eggs, from the crop to the pylorus, and usually even the mouth 
was full to overflowing. In only one or two cases were there fish in the stomach, and 
these had probably been picked up dead on the beach when the birds were after eggs. 
Some of the stomachs contained small quantities of miscellaneous marine matter, but 
this was probably picked up by accident in the search for eggs. 
