Conservation Commission. 193 



water in large quantities and the fish allowed to remain in the 

 brine until they begin to show signs of distress, then flush out 

 the tank with fresh water. The swift-water chub or horned dace, 

 also the black-nosed dace, will not endure captivity as well as 

 some other minnows. A good food for the minnow is minced 

 earthworms and clams. Bread is not suitable for them. Spratt's 

 put up a fish food consisting chiefly of animal meal which has 

 been used successfully. 



S'HAD. 



The upper waters of our shad streams have been so obstructed 

 by high dams and otherwise made unfit for the reproduction of 

 the species that the shad now spawns at comparatively short dis- 

 tances from the sea. For example, our men now take eggs at 

 Rhinecliff, on the Hudson, a point 89 miles above New York 

 and 45 miles below Castleton, which was the breeding ground 

 of the shad twenty odd years ago. Still earlier the fish ascended 

 the river as far as the dam at Troy which is 150 miles north of 

 New York. They could not ascend farther. Fishways have not 

 affected the movements of the shad upstream as far as can be 

 ascertained. 



On May 9, 1911, "the first lot of shad eggs, consisting of 22 

 quarts, or 616,000 eggs, were delivered by fishermen at Rhine- 

 clifT to the Linlithgo 'Station. On the following day 31 quarts, 

 equalling 868,000 eggs, were received from the same source. The 

 number collected during the first two days of the season was 

 greater than the average yield for the entire season a few 

 years ago. 



An improvement in the method of transferring the shad fry 

 from the hatchery to the RoelifT Jansen kill has been devised by 

 Foreman Rhines. He has connected a heavy rain spout with the 

 receiving trough into which the fry pass as fast as they are 

 hatched. This spout drops more than twenty feet before it 

 reaches the creek, and in order to overcome the danger of shock 

 a 45 degree elbow was introduced outside of the hatchery. By 

 this means the little fish are conveyed gently into an artificial 

 eddy made in ithe stream and from here they can readily pass 

 into the creek and thence into the Hudson. 

 7 



