THE KING-FISH, OR BARB. 175 



a light brown, glossed with silvery and blue, and interspersed 

 with spots and blotches of a darker hue. Some of these 

 clouds slant obliquely forward from the dorsal fin ; some run 

 obliquely backward from the nape of the neck; and some 

 pass midway from the sides to the tail. There is here and 

 there an insulated dark patch, with dirty discolorations to- 

 wards the white belly. He grows rapidly thick and stout 

 towards the thorax, and then gently and gradually slopes 

 away towards the tail." 



He is taken by the angler for basse and weak fish with 

 their ordinary tackle, with the exception of the hook, which 

 should be rather smaller, say No. 4, Limerick or Kirby sal- 

 mon, to accommodate the mouth of the barb, which is rather 

 small. 



The following description of his grounds, and manner of 

 taking him, by a friend who has had much experience, will 

 close our article on the king-fish to the gratification of all who 

 have or ever expect to bite or get a bite from this interesting 

 fish: 



" This is one of the finest fish for the table, procured from 

 the salt water. They are not plenty in the neighborhood of 

 this city, though occasionally a season occurs when they are 

 taken in considerable numbers. I have often taken 20 or 30 

 in a tide, in the neighborhood of Communipaw, that delight- 

 ful little Dutch town, rendered famous in history by the re- 

 nowned Knickerbocker. 



" A little below this village there is a piece of hard bot- 

 tom on the extensive flat which is spread out from Jersey 

 City down nearly to Bergen Point. A single rock is bare at 

 low water on this hard ground, called Black Tom. The best 

 ground, in my experience, is found thus: Row your boat 

 from Black Tom directly for the Jersey shore, sounding with 

 an oar until the bottom becomes soft and the water a little 

 deeper than on the hard. You are then at the edge of what 



