Z6b THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF NOVA SCOTIA [ 



They approach the Nova Scotia shore early in March, at first etrag- 

 glingly and very lean. As the summer advances they hecome fat. 

 During the latter part of August they are in their prime and are pre- 

 paring to spawn, which operation takes place in September and 

 October. 



The warm sandy coves and still land-locked bays about Sambro, 

 Eastern Passage, Shelburne, and Prospect, are favourite resorts in from 

 5 to 10 fathoms. Here the fish may be seen lying upon the bottom 

 in thousands. They may be measured by the acre. The sea is white 

 and turbid with the spawn ; and ropes, in passing through it, become 

 as large as small haAvsers. The cod and his varieties approach to feed 

 upon it, whilst quantities are cast upon the beach by the sea. 



Before the long cold nights and stormy seas of November arrive, 

 the herring have left the surface to re-appear the following Spring. In 

 New Brunswick, according to Perley, the great spawning ground i9 

 Southern Head, Grand Manan. Here the herring commence in July and 

 end in October. Along the Bay of Fundy a run of large, thin spawn- 

 bearing herring appear about the middle of May. About the last of 

 June a separate run of small barren herring appear in Digby Basin from 

 the Bay of Fundy. These are fat, and about one in twelve have spawn, 

 and in August immense numbers of fry appear on the shoal bars of 

 the Basin, doubtless the spawn deposited in early spring. Perley 

 reports that spawn is found in the Bay of Fundy in June. 



Thus we arrive at a very curious fact, that our herring, though of 

 the same species, spawn some in June, and others in October. 



At Labrador, Newfoundland, and the Magdalen Islands, April and 

 May are the spawning months. Allowing from six to t«n weeks for the 

 period of hatching, from the analogy of other fish whose periods we do 

 know, the one run must be produced during the stormy months of 

 November and December, after the fish have long left the surface, whilst 

 a second more highly favoured run commences its existence during the 

 warm tranquil season of Midsummer, upon the shallow beaches and 

 warm shoals of the basins emptying into the Bay of Fundy. Thus com- 

 mencing life under such different auspices, it would seem that each 

 hatching or " rim" keep by themselves, at least during their early life, 

 and revisit annually their breeding places. 



Self-protection keeps them from the older ones, who prey upon them 

 equally as the cod. The most intelligent observers informed Perley 

 that it takes three years to perfect their growth, and that they spawn 

 the second year. 



Thus we have a small run of 7 to 9 inches of the second year, about 

 one in twelve spawning, revisiting the shallow basins of the great Bay 

 of Fundy (which re-appears as the famous Digby herring in all the 

 markets of the world) during July and August, and then retiring from 

 the surface. The shore run of the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, about 

 11 inches in size, appearing in early March, and spawning in September 

 and October ; and the large Labrador, Bank, or Grand Manan run, appear? 



