CHAPTER XVI. 



OF THE SHEEPSHEAD. 



THIS is another fish taken by the black-fish and basse sports- 

 men in the vicinity of New-York. He affords considerable 

 excitement in capture, and much pleasure as a table fish.* 

 Of late years he has been considered very scarce, and does 

 not seem willing, as usual, to tickle the palates of the inhabit- 

 ants of Manhattan Island. 



Sheep's Head (sparus ovis. Mitchill.) " With smutty 

 face, banded sides, pale complexion, prominent eyebrows, 

 and grooved dorsal fin. The form of the mouth, and a cer- 

 tain smuttiness of face, have a distant resemblance to the 

 physiognomy of the sheep. Thence comes the name by 

 which he is usually distinguished. 



" Grows big enough to weigh 14 or 15 pounds. One that 

 weighed four pounds and a half, measured twenty inches in 

 length, eight in depth, and three in thickness. Sheepshead 

 is the most esteemed of New-Yoik fishes, and fetches a higher 



* It is said that the old adage, that " two heads are better than one 

 if one is a sheep's head," will not apply to this fish. 



