274 NATUEAL HISTOET OF AQUATIC ANIMALS, 



food is very similar to that of the tautog, except that they cannot swallow large shells. They 

 feed also upon dead animal matter, and are among the most important scavengers of our harbors. 

 Numbers of them may be taken by lowering a net containing a piece of meat or fish and quickly 

 raising it to the surface. Like the tautog, Gunners are local in their habits, only moving from 

 the shoal water in extreme cold weather, and, though adapted for living in colder water, rarely 

 retreat except in the severest weather. In winter, however, they rarely are caught with the hook. 

 The first of the season of 1881 at Gloucester were caught May 8. A very cold season sometimes 

 destroys them. It is recorded that in January, 1835, great quantities were frozen and thrown up 

 on the shore between Gloucester and Marblehead.^ In June and July they spawn on their feeding 

 grounds in Southern New England, and in July and August young fish three-quarters of an inch 

 or more are taken abundantly along the shores. They appear to become adult and to breed when 

 three inches long. The largest I have observed was taken at Wood's Holl, in July, 1875: its 

 weight was twelve ounces, its length ten and a hali inches, and it was spawning freely. Storer 

 claims to have seen them fourteen inches long, and I am assured that they sometimes attain a 

 weight of two pounds. From Eastport, Maine, to the vicinity of Boston, the Gunner is a favorite 

 .article of food. Elsewhere it is rarely eaten and is usually regarded with disgust — a foolish prejudice, 

 for it is one of the most agreeably flavored small fishes on our coast. Immense quantities are taken 

 with the hook from the rocks, bridges, and boats, especially in the vicinity of cities like Boston and 

 Portland. They are also taken in immense quantities in nets. The Irish market-boats of Boston 

 make a special business of catching them, using circular nets three or four feet in diameter which 

 are baited and set among the rocks. Dr. Storer records that on the occasion of his visit to Lab- 

 rador, in 1849, he found them so plentiful in the Gut of Canso that, by sinking a basket with a salt 

 fish tied therein for bait, he continually caught them by the score, and by putting a few hundreds 

 in the well of his sloop kept the crew well supplied with fish while at sea on the way to Labrador. 

 The people of Nova Scotia, like those south of Gape God, rarely, if ever, eat the Gunner. Mr. J. 

 Matthew Jones informs me that in the summer of 1863, when the French fleet was anchored in 

 Halifax Harbor, the sailors caught them for food in great numbers. About Saint Margaret's Bay, 

 according to Mr. Ambrose, they are given as food to pigs : since, however, the pork of these 

 fish-fed pigs always tastes oily, they are generally fed on some other food for a short time before 

 being killed, and well dosed with sulphur. It was formerly customary in Boston to keep these fish 

 alive for market in large cars, described by Storer as three feet deep, twelve to fifteen feet long, 

 closed beneath and latticed at the sides, and anchored in deep water. Storer states that sometimes 

 as many as five thousand fish were kept in a single car, and that these cars were replenished every 

 week or fortnight. It is impossible to estimate with any degree of accuracy the quantity of Gun- 

 ners annually taken. The catch of the Irish market-boats of Boston cannot fall much short of 

 300,000 pounds, and that of the other towns and States on the coast of New England is certain to 

 be from 200,000 to 250,000 pounds. 



88. THE PARROT-FISHES AND SOME OF THEIR ALLIES. 



Several of the Parrot-fishes occur on the Florida coast, notably the Blue Parrot-fish, Platy- 

 fjlossus radiatus (Linn.) Goode, sometimes, according to Jordan, seen in Key West market, and P. 

 Mvittatus, known in Bermuda as " Slippery Dick," recorded by Jordan from Gharleston market. 

 They are gorgeous in color, but the flesh is so dry that they are held in slight esteem for table use. 



' Gloucester Telegraph, January 14, 1835. 



