BRIEF NOTES ON FISHES. 397 



this species, as with many others which by their denti- 

 tion show that they are carnivorous, it is probable that 

 much of the vegetable matter found in their stomachs 

 has not been taken voluntarily, but unavoidably; the 

 fish swallowing portions of a plant often for the sake of 

 the animal life that was clinging to it. 



In the manual to which I so frequently have occasion 

 to refer, I find no direct reference to a fish that is as 

 much a fresh-water species as our shad or herring. Why 

 it has been overlooked I can not understand, as I have 

 seldom wandered about the river during the summer 

 months without seeing numbers of this " exclusively ma- 

 rine " species. I refer to the silver gar or " bill-fish." 

 Years ago I called attention to the great numbers of these 

 fishes that are often caught in the canal, when the water 

 is drawn off, in December, " at the close of navigation." 

 Particularly during the month of August are these fishes 

 plentiful in the river, and when sporting in company 

 about a floating leaf or twig, darting over it and each 

 other with a great variety of graceful movements, they 

 present a most interesting sight. 



They do not appear to leave the salt water at any 

 particular time of the year, but "whenever the notion 

 takes them " they wander up the river and thence into 

 the tributary creeks. Once here, they seem in no hurry 

 to return, as my note-books show them to have been seen 

 in Crosswicks Creek in every month of the year. 



As a fresh-water fish, the silver gar reminds me 

 strongly of the pike. It preys upon the small minnows 

 in the same manner ; and at times it will remain motion- 

 less near the surface of the water, just beneath the spread- 

 ing leaves of the splatter-docks. Unlike the pike, how- 

 ever, it is somewhat sociable and full of play. Often a 



