AMBROSE — ON ST. MAEGARET's BAY FISHING FROUNDS. 69 



mouth of the Bay. The " bank," thirty miles broad oflf Aspo- 

 togan, is now the ground where our people seek the halibut. 

 Here — on clear, sandy bottom, in deep water, he lives and fattens 

 by minding his own business and avoiding society ; for except 

 when the company of his species is a necessity, he is by no means 

 gregarious in his habits. He feeds as well by night as by day, 

 and haddock is his favourite food when he can get it. His inter- 

 ested friend, the fisherman, having discovered his weakness on 

 this point, suspends the coveted tit-bit as near the bottom as pos- 

 sible, for like all flat fishes the halibut seeks the lowest levels. 



There are logics among halibut, both old and young, but these 

 are mostly wounded fish. The liver in this, as in all other sick 

 fishes, shrinks and turns of a dark colour. 



Halibut nine feet in length have been taken by our fishermen. 



Whiting come into the Bay about the first of September, and 

 are then in fine condition. Last year they were more plentiful 

 than for a long time before, and came into the Bay in June. 

 They are not very plenty here, and are becoming more scarce. 

 No special endeavour is made to catch them, as our people have 

 a prejudice against them, fancying them unfit for food. They 

 mesh in the mackerel and herring nets, — sometimes as many as 

 a dozen in a net. Mr. James S. Kizer caught one with a hook, 

 when fishing for cod, as have also several others. As they are 

 frequently cast back into the water when taken half-strangled 

 out of the nets, this may account for the numbers of them which 

 are seen skimming along on the top of the water, unable to 

 descend to more agreeable depths. 



As my design is to give our edible fishes the first place, I must 

 now pass by a large class of interesting fishes of a larger size, 

 and take up the king of our barrel-fish. 



The Mackerel. This fish is caught, more or less, in all the 

 harbours and coves in and around the Bay, — i. e., when it is 

 caught at all, for of late years mackerel fishing here has proved 

 very disastrous to all connected with it. In days gone by, 

 fortunes were rapidly made by the seining of these fish, and our 

 people, especially those of French descent, can scarcely be 

 persuaded to enter upon the more slow but sure net and line 

 fisheries. Various reasons are alleged for the very irregular 



