370 MANUAL FOR YOUNG- SPORTSMEN. 



also to a great age. They are a very wary and cautious 

 fish, and very uncertain in appetite, being sometimes ready 

 to take a bait, and at others obstinately refusing every 

 temptation. The carp is now common in the Hudson, 

 having escaped from the store ponds of Captain Robinson, 

 who imported it from Holland, and having been protected 

 by law until it became abundant. 



THE BASS. Of this fine family there are four species 

 peculiar to the waters of the rivers, lakes, and sea bays 

 of North America, besides a purely salt-water species taken 

 on the outer sea-banks, known as the sea bass, Centro- 

 pristes Nigricans. These three are the striped bass, 

 Labrax lineatus, a noble migratory fish, varying according 

 to age and condition from half a pound to seventy pounds 

 weight, and frequenting all the waters of the Middle and 

 Eastern States, from those of the Chesapeake to Boston 

 Bay. He runs up the fresh rivers from the sea in pursuit 

 of the shoals of shad and smelt, on the roe of which he 

 feeds greedily, and frequents the fresh waters until late in 

 the autumn, when he retires to the sea bays and inlets, 

 where he remains imbedded in the mud of those calm and 

 brackish lagoons until the return of warm weather. 



He is a handsome, active fish, bluish brown above and 

 silvery white on the sides and belly, marked with seven or 

 nine longitudinal stripes of chocolate brown, those above 

 the medial line terminating at the tail, those below it 

 fading away and disappearing above the anal fin. Like 

 the perch he has two dorsal fins, the anterior one having 

 nine sharp-pointed spirous rays. He is a gallant fish and 

 bold biter. 



