52 Big Game Fishes 
the Atlantic, gorging itself with the great flying- 
fish or squid in the Pacific; everywhere a terror 
to the smaller denizens of the deep. For cen- 
turies it has been caught in great nets in the 
Mediterranean Sea, on whose shores it is con- 
sidered a dainty; and from the mouth of the St. 
Lawrence to Cape Cod it is more or less common 
in summer and occasionally harpooned, its cres- 
cent-shaped tail being seen on many a longshore 
fish house from Cape Breton to Swampscott, a 
talisman of good luck. 
The fishermen along the coast of Nova Scotia, 
especially in the vicinity of Cape Breton, the 
mouth of the Myra River, and the region about 
Sydney, have long been familiar with the big fish 
which they call the “albacore,” and which chases 
schools of herring into the great bays in July, 
August, and September, often playing havoc with 
nets. From inquiries among fishermen, I believe 
that the Atlantic fish averages much larger than 
those of the Pacific coast, entire schools of which 
often range from eighty to one hundred and 
fifty pounds. In the Mediterranean, five hun- 
dred pounds is considered a large fish, and two 
hundred, according to Kingsley, is the average. 
At Cape Cod, near which they are often har- 
