390 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



quotes some negative evidence of the absence of this fish at Compton, Rhode Island, from 1794 to 

 1803, the 'sheepshead' (more probably the tautog is meant) being spoken of as common, and the 

 Scup not mentioned. 



"Mr. John C. Parker, an octogenarian of Falmouth, Massachusetts, states that the Scup were 

 observed there, according to his father's statement, some time after 1790, and had become quite 

 abundant by 1814. On the other hand, however, in 1621, again quoting from Mr. Lyman, Massa 

 soit entertained his half -famished Puritan visitors with ' fishes like bream, but three times so big, 

 and better meat'; this fact, with the description, being applicable to no other fish than the Scup. 

 The European sea-bream is very similar to the Scup, and would readily be referred to the same 

 species by the unobservant traveler. 



"Again, Roger Williams, in his ' Key to the Language of the Indians,' speaking of the Scup, 

 says ' mushcup, the bream.' ' Of this fish there is abundance, which the natives dry in the sun 

 and smoke, and some English begin to salt. Both ways they keep all the year, and it is hoped 

 they may be as well accepted as cod at market, and better if once known.' "We find no reference 

 to the occurrence of the fish from this date, 1642, up to 1794. 



"The time of the arrival of the Scup on the coast varies with the locality. The young proba- 

 bly spend the winter in our southern waters or out in the Gulf Stream, but in the spring commence 

 their migration either along the coast or from the deep seas toward the waters on the south coast 

 of New England. The latter supposition is the more probable, as no Scup are taken on the 

 southern coast of anything like the size of the breeders that visit New England, making their 

 appearance at once in a huge body, extending, apparently, from Block Island to Martha's Vineyard. 



"The western division of this army appears to strike first at Watch Hill, to the west of Point 

 Judith, and to make its way slowly along eastward, the smaller or eastern division moving through 

 Vineyard Sound. According to Captain Luce, the Menemsha pounds take the Scup three days or 

 a week earlier than the pounds at Lombard's Cove, and nearly two weeks earlier than at the 

 guano-works at Wood's HoU. The progress of this fish is at first very slow, scarcely exceeding a 

 few miles a day, and its movements appear to be largely regulated by the flow of the tide, going 

 forward with the flood, and partly retrograding with the ebb. According to Mr. Whalley (page 

 24), of Narragansett Pier, it occupies about four tides, or two days, in moving from Point Judith 

 to Seconnet Point. 



" The precise period of their reaching the coast varies with the season, although their abun- 

 dance generally occurs from the 5th to the 12th of May. In 1871 the fish appeared much earlier 

 than usual, and were on the shore before traps were down in readiness for their capture. Their 

 occurrence was about the 15th to the 25th of April. Breeding Scup were taken at Hyannis the 

 same year on the 27th of April, at least two weeks earlier than usual. They were taken in the 

 fish-pound at Wood's Holl on the 27th of April, but were most abundant on the 8th of May. In 

 1872 the season was late, and a few scattering Scup were taken at Wood's Holl from the 10th to 

 the 13th of May, but were most abundant at a later date. On the 17th of May ten barrels were 

 taken, and one hundred and fifty barrels on the 9th of June. Some of those captured in the 

 middle of May were of unusual size, weighing four pounds and over. At Newport they were most 

 abundant on the 15th of May, or two days earlier than at Wood's Holl. Here, too, the number of 

 mature fish was less than usual, but the average size greater. Over one thousand barrels were 

 taken in Luce's pound, at Menemsha Bight. It is mentioned as an unusual occurrence that in 

 the spring of 1872 large fish were caught in purse-nets five or ten miles off the shore of Newport, 

 mostly with spawn, although very poor and thin. 



" According to Oapt. Thomas Hinckley, after passing Seaconnet Point and entering Buzzard's 



