TWAITK SHAD. 133 



A llice Shad for our two species, the better in future to dis- 

 tinguish them ; thus combining the generic name Shad with 

 a trivial name by which these two fishes have been hitherto, 

 to some extent at least, locally known. 



The Twaite Shad then, if I may so call it, is a sea-fish 

 which enters our rivers about May, and in consequence of 

 the time of its annual visit to some of the rivers of the 

 European Continent is called the May-fish. The object 

 of its visit to the fresh water is to deposit its spawn ; and, 

 that accomplished, it returns to sea by the end of July. 

 Twaite Shads appear during these three months in abund- 

 ance in the Thames, from the first point of land below Green- 

 wich, opposite the Isle of Dogs, to the distance of a mile 

 below ; and great numbers are taken every season. These 

 fish produce, however, but a small price to the fishermen, 

 being in little repute as food, their muscles being exceed- 

 ingly full of bones and dry. Formerly great quantities of 

 the Twaite Shad were caught with nets in that part of the 

 Thames opposite the present Penitentiary at Millbank, 

 Westminster. Above Putney Bridge was another favourite 

 spot for them ; but the state of the water, it is believed, 

 prevents the fish ascending the river in the same manner as 

 in former years, and but few comparatively are taken. The 

 ordinary size of the adult fish of this species is from twelve 

 to sixteen inches. 



Shad are not allowed to be caught in the Thames after the 

 30th of June, that the remaining fish may cast their spawn 

 without interruption from nets.* 



The principal spawning-time of the Twaite Shad in the 

 Thames is about the second week in July, when numbers 

 may be seen and heard frisking at or near the surface. In 

 the language of fishermen, the Shad are said to thrash the 



* Whitebait are plentiful throughout May and June. 



