BRIEF NOTES ON FISHES. 363 



ly together. While we find that hawks of different kinds 

 will often quarrel when chance brings them together, and 

 the same may be said of carnivorous mammals, it does 

 not appear that this is the case among fishes. I have 

 never seen anything on the part of any of our perches 

 that indicated anger, and certainly never saw a " fight 

 going on " among them. Fish generally are very playful ; 

 but this never ends in a row, so far as I have seen. 



A far more interesting fish than the preceding, be- 

 cause there is a mystery about its breeding habits, is the 

 rock-fish, striped bass, and "streaked snapper," as this 

 percoid is variously called. For years I thought I knew 

 this fish thoroughly, but it seems not at least, so far as 

 being able to say when and where it breeds ; but of this 

 hereafter. 



Nearly two centuries ago Gabriel Thomas mentions 

 Rock among our fishes as one of the goodly sorts that ac- 

 quired great size. This is true of them still ; but it is 

 not common now to find them weighing twenty pounds or 

 more. It is accounted now good fishing to catch many 

 weighing twenty ounces. Even longer ago, one Mahlon 

 Stacy, who settled the spot now called Trenton, recorded 

 his fishing experiences, and, in the course of that account, 

 he says : " "We have great plenty of most sorts of fish that 

 ever I saw in England, besides several others that are not 

 known there, as rocks, cat-fish, shads, sheep's-heads, and 

 sturgeon." This is the earliest reference to the fish in 

 the Delaware that I can find. 



At present the rock-fish is found not only in the river, 

 but in such inflowing creeks as have water sufficient for it 

 to swim. When very young it delights in wandering 

 into little streams to catch the myriads of small min- 

 nows that congregate in the eddies of every brook. 



