324 



FISHING IN AMERICAN WATEES. 



Scale of Inches. 



HEBEING AND PILCHARD FAMILY.!. The Mossbonker, or Hard-bead, Alosa menJiadeii 

 (very abundant on the shores of Long Island and Mass. It is seldom eaten). 2. 

 The Pilchard, Clupea pilchardus. 3. The Anchovy, Engraulis engrasicolus. 4. Amer- 

 ican Shad, Alosa prcestabilis. 5. The Herring, Clupea harengus. 



SECTION SECOND. 



No. 4. THE SHAD. 



By the rice-border'd Southern coast, 



Where the Savannah River winds, 

 The shad-shoal, an unnumber'd host, 



Its earliest feeding pasture finds. 

 Thence northward where the Hudson sweeps 

 Connecticut's transparent deeps, 

 Their gleaming myriads seek a home 

 Beyond the surges and the foam. 



THE SHAD, commercially, is an important fish. It winters 

 in the ocean, dallies among the nets in the estuaries during 

 spring, after which it lays its ova in the sands above tide-wa- 

 ter, and returns to salt water to recuperate. It is very pro- 

 lific, yielding from a fourth to half a million eggs annually 

 within the months of April, May, and June. The Connecti- 

 cut River is supposed to contain the best shad, while those 

 of the Delaware and Hudson are excellent fish vastly supe- 

 rior to those of the British Isles, or to the Alosa mdgaris, 

 which is numerous in the rivers of France, but so small and 

 lean as never to be seen on the 'table of an epicure. The av- 

 erage weight of shad in Europe is less than two pounds, while 





