254 GAME FISH OF NORTH AMERICA. 



size here described is seldom found to the westward of the Con- 

 necticut River. On the main of Long Island Sound it is quite 

 interesting to see them drive the menhaden, or moss-bunkers, in 

 shoals, causing a " sleek " on the water as they spill their oil when 

 they chop them up with their great sharp teeth. 



Early in June a size of about three pounds weight make their 

 appearance at the same points, though much fatter, and remain in 

 the vicinity of the same grounds for perhaps a month. In July 

 they spread out to the eastward, up Long Island Sound to Say- 

 brook Bar and Faulkner's Island, and westerly to Stamford, and 

 remain until October, though occasionally shifting ground for their 

 food, which, in addition to the moss-bunkers, consists of a small 

 species of "shiner " (anchovy). On some of the outer reefs they 

 remain but one or two days at a time. 



About the middle of July the small creeks and rivers, from Stam- 

 ford eastward to the Connecticut River, abound in a size weighing 

 about a quarter of a pound, which, in a month grow to half a 

 pound, and these feed on a size still smaller, recently spawned, and 

 scarcely an inch and a half in length. The surface of the Housa- 

 tonic River, from the railroad bridge to the mouth of the river, is 

 annually covered from bank to bank with countless numbers of 

 this small fry, drifting with the tide as it ebbs and flows, while at 

 the same time a size larger, say about a half pound in weight, is 

 feeding upon them from beneath. About the first of September 

 the small fry are sufficiently large to venture into the Sound, and 

 then they swarm in the creeks and harbors, affording great sport 

 to lads who catch them with a float line, with shrimp for bait. By 

 the month of October both large and small fish are all well fattened. 



The peculiarity of this fish is that, by about the middle of Oc- 

 tober the large size, that weigh from nine to fourteen pounds, are 

 generally found from Nantucket to Watch Hill, around Block Isl- 

 and and outside of Montauk Point ; while from Stamford eastward 

 to New London, on the outer reefs, they are of a uniform size of 

 about two and half pounds weight, and those in the harbors and 

 creeks are a mixture of small fish just spawned, and a size that 

 weighs from one-eighth to one and three-quarter pounds. Anoth- 

 er singular feature is, that by about the twentieth of October, or 

 the first freezing weather, these fish, of all sizes, up to two and a 



