THE NOKTH AMERICAN FISHERIES. 3 



tion, and waits patiently for tlie days consecrated to 

 the reopening of the shooting and fishing season. 

 I do not mean, of course, to assert that some will 

 not be found who offend against this custom, but 

 their number is small, and so great are the supplies 

 of game of all sorts, four-footed, winged, and finny, 

 that happily these effect but little mischief. 



North America is a land of promise to the fisher- 

 man. It abounds in fish of all sorts, and of many 

 which are unknown in Europe. My readers shall 

 judge for themselves. 



In the first place, there is the drumming fish 

 {Pogonias chromis), so called from the noise which he 

 makes in swimming, a noise which resembles that 

 of drum-sticks beating on a drum. In calm weather 

 and in the afternoon, you may hear this drumming 

 at a distance of two hundred yards. The drum- 

 ming fish is found near the coasts of the two Caro- 

 linas and Florida, and even in the Hudson, near 

 New York. It is only during the season of repro- 

 duction that the fish indulges its musical propensi- 

 ties. The rest of the year it is silent, and some 

 have pretended that the sound is an amorous indi- 

 cation. * The drum fish is usually of large size ; 

 weighing from thirty-five to ninety pounds, and he 



* Sir John Richardson sought to explain the drumming by suggesting 

 that the fish heat themselves against the bottoms of ships, to rid them- 

 selves of certain parasitic thread-worms which he found them constantly 

 infested with. — Tkans. 



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