FISHES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 43 



of ten stout flattened rays ; the second dorsal, ot one very short 

 ray and about twenty soft rays. The pectoral fins are large and 

 pointed ; the anal fin has one very short ray and another long an<l 

 stout one. 



The prevailing color is darkish bronze, of a brown tint ; lighten 

 iiig as it nears the ventral region. Beliind each pectoral fin is a 

 round dark spot. The scales are silvery on the exposed edges. The 

 black drum, as it is called, is dark brown, rather than black, and 

 the red drum is lighter in tint, reddish and coppery. 



In size the drum runs from twenty to one hundred pounds and 

 ' over, and their habitat is in extent from Florida to Kew York. 



Most of the drum are captured in seine nets during the summer 

 months, but the angler, (probablv tired of troutlings and basslets, 

 and follo-\i'ing the example of the English sportsman who, wearied 

 of pheasants and jack-rabbits, journeys over half a world to find 

 tigers and elephants) standing in the surf takes the monster out of 

 his native element by a bappy combination of strength, tackle and skill. 



Black drum are taken from the flat beaches of Isew Jersey while 

 the tide is running up ; they are not found at all at ebb tide. Evi- 

 dently they run out into deep water, and follow up the incoming- 

 tide, seeking food, which is generally crabs, elams, molluscs and sand 

 insects of all kinds. 



The drum is taken without the use of a rod. The angler stands 

 on the beach at the edge of the surf, or a little way in it, and uses a 

 longhand line — two or tliree hundred feet of Cuttyhunk striped bass 

 line is about the thing. The line should be as light as is possible in 

 bringing in such big fisli. To the line is attached a heavy " cast," 

 or "bank" sinker, and above this lead are fastened the liooks ; gen- 

 erally two are used, which are large — numbers 1 and 2 " sea hooks" 

 are about right in size. The bait used is either crab, clam (soft shell) 

 or mussel. The drum can crush almost any mollusc with his pow- 

 erful teeth, and it is said he is verj- destructive to the oyster farms 

 along the coast. The baited line is cast far out in the surf by the 

 angler, and as the action of the waves rolling in brings along with 

 them the heavy sinker, the fisherman coils up in a round recep- 

 tacle hanging from his neck the slack of the line. It often hap- 



