LAWYEES AMONG OYSTERS. 459 



shell and shedder crabs; and it is usually on this latter bait 

 that anglers take them in New York waters. 



Mr. N. Saltus, a coast angler, who usually spends his win- 

 ters in Florida for the sake of its excellent fishing, thus writes 

 me: "The drum fishes are found in the month of February 

 in Indian River, Florida, and about this time they commence 

 their northward trip for summering. About the first week 

 in March they enter the Matanzas and the St. Augustine 

 inlets, where for the next three weeks they may be heard 

 drumming, as they feed on oysters and have in their throat 

 a crushing mill, where they grind the oyster-shell, extracting 

 the oyster [equal to a lawyer] and rejecting the shell, the 

 crushing of which makes the drumming sound, after which 

 the fish is named. Early in April they appear in the rivers 

 about Beaufort. South Carolina, and about June 1st are^ dis- 

 covered at Cape May, which is near the limit of their north- 

 ern trip. A few stragglers extend to the waters about Staten 

 Island. They run in shoals, and weigh from eight to a hun- 

 dred pounds ; but forty to sixty is the run of large ones. 

 When caught with a bass rod and reel they make fine sport, 

 but they play low. A ' baby drum' of from five to ten 

 pounds is as fine eating as any fish; but larger than ten 

 pounds they increase in coarseness, though a good table fish 

 as a boiler from twenty to thirty pounds." 



The drum is in New York considered a game fish, and 

 Mr. Brown, of the Latourette Club, won " high-hook" at a 

 contest in Newark Bay, in August, 1872, by capturing a for- 

 ty-pound red drum. 



The red drum is red on back, fins, head, tail, and white ab- 

 domen. Its mouth is armed with a forest of fine teeth, cov- 

 ering the border of the mouth for a half inch all round; and 

 in its throat it has an upper and lower millstone, by which 

 it crushes oysters, clams, and mussels, and producing a sound 

 like the beating of a muffled drum. Its fins are formed of 

 soft rays, as represented by the engraving, which is a very 

 exact likeness, even to the square tail and large tongue. 



