GAME FISH OF FLORIDA. 55 



habits, and on a still night in spring and summer the 

 snapping of their jaws may be distinctly heard as they 

 chase the mullets and small fry in the creeks. Hoi- 

 brook gives a good figure of this species. 



THE DRUM (Pogonias cromis). CUVIEE. (P. fas- 

 ciatus). HOLBROOK. There seem to be two species on 

 the southern coast. Pogonias cromis is the black drum, 

 the larger and coarser, sometimes weighing fifty or sixty 

 pounds. P. fasciatus, the striped drum, of ten or twelve 

 pounds, is the better fish. They appear at Mosquito 

 Inlet about April, and spawn, I think at that season. 

 The roe of the drum, salted, is a favorite dish on the 

 coast, and was formerly exported in large quantities to 

 Cuba. In Charleston, Savannah, and St. Augustine the 

 drum is the common dinner fish when in season, though 

 I think it much inferior to the sheepshead or the red-fish. 

 It is taken in the same way as its cousin, the sheepshead, 

 and with the same bait, and behaves in the same way 

 when hooked, though from its greater size and strength 

 its capture is more difficult. This fish derives its name 

 from its habit of emitting a hollow, drumming noise, 

 principally, I think, in the spawning season. This 

 sound, like the drumming of the partridge, is difficult 

 to trace, as it appears to diffuse itself in space. 



THE WHITING, BARB, OR KINGFISH ( Umbrina neb- 

 idosa). STORER. The whiting is considered one of 

 the best of the southern fishes, and is prized higher by 

 the natives than even the sheepshead ; perhaps because 

 it is a scarcer fish. We seldom get more than six or 

 eight of them in a tide. The flesh is both rich and deli 

 cate, and the average weight about a pound ; but its re 

 sistance is greater than would be expected from the size 

 of the fish. They are taken in rather deep water on the 



