THE TAUTOG, OR BLACK-FISH. 317 



season of baiting is reckoned very favorable until the increasing 

 warmth of the season brings food enough to fill their stomachs, and 

 they thereupon afford less pastime to the sportsman, and less profit 

 to the professor. The people express this sentiment in these coarse 

 rhymes : 



" ' When chestnut leaves are as big as thumb nail, 

 Then bite Black-Fish without fail ; 

 But when chestnut leaves are as long as a span, 

 Then catch Black-Fish if you can.' " 



" The common bait for Black-Fish is the soft clam, mya. The 

 soldier crab, or fiddler, ncypoda, will frequently tempt him when he 

 refuses to taste the other. And he snaps very readily at the large 

 finny worm of the salt-water beaches, nereis, when used on a hook 

 for him. 



" Some persons, who live contiguous to the shores where are sit- 

 uated the rocks frequented by Tautog, invite the fish there by baiting. 

 By this is meant the throwing overboard broken clams or crabs, to 

 induce the Black Fish to renew their visits, and fine sport is pro- 

 cured. 



" Rocky shores and bottoms are the haunts of Black-Fish. Long 

 experience Is required to find all these places of resort. Nice obser- 

 vations on the landmarks, in different directions, are requisite to 

 enable a fishing party to anchor on the proper spot. When, for 

 example, a certain rock and tree range one way, with a barn window 

 appearing over a headland the other way, the boat being at the point 

 where two such lines intersect each other, is exactly over some famous 

 rendezvous. To insure success on such expectation, it is proper to 

 have a pilot along, well versed in all the local and minute knowledge. 

 According to the number and distance of the rocks and reefs visited, 

 will be the time consumed, from the duration of a few hours to a long 

 summer's day. An opinion prevails, that the Black-Fish can hear 

 very well ; and, for fear of scaring them away, the greatest stillness is 

 observed. He is a strong fish, and pulls well for one of his weight 

 and size. 



" At some places Black-Fish bite best upon the flood : in others, 

 they are voracious during the ebb. Thunder accompanying a shower 



