THE HICKORY SHAD. 609 



beginning of the season hundreds of men may be seen going about the city of Washington with 

 strings of these fish, which they cry for Shad, and which with great insolence they press upon such 

 would-be purchasers as are inclined to question their genuineness. In the pound-nets of the Ches- 

 apeake in the beginning of the season they are caught in immense numbers, and are shipped to 

 the markets with the true Shad until their price falls below three cents apiece, after which they are 

 sold with the Herring, one counting as two Herrings. The "Hickory" Shad are occasionally seen 

 in the fall and winter in the New York market. Mitchill, writing in 1814, remarks : " Some call 

 this fish the ' Shad ' Herring and some the ' Pall ' Shad. He is reckoned to be almost equal to the 

 Shad as an article of food." Storer states that in Massachusetts it is a lean fish, and not used for 

 food. 



Concerning the "Quoddy" Herring, Perley writes that in flavor and excellence it ranks only 

 second to the best Shad of the Petitcodiak. 



Size. — ^Mitchill states that the length of this fish is frequently twenty to twenty-four inches, 

 its depth is often four and a half to six inches, and that it sometimes attains a weight of four or 

 five pounds. At the present time, however, the size of the fish is much less than that described 

 by Mitchill. The largest fuU-roed specimen observed by Colonel McDonald cannot have exceeded 

 three to three and a half pounds in weight. 



Eepboduction. — ^No observations have been made on the breeding habits of this fish, but it 

 is almost certain that it spawns in spring, like the other members of the family, but whether in 

 salt or fresh water has not been ascertained. It seems more than probable, however, that it 

 spawns in fresh water under the same conditions as the Shad, at a little earlier period. 



39 P 



