MARINE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 515 
water again. Those mackerel which first come in contact 
with the land at Cape Cod will migrate as far as the northern 
part of the coast of Maine. They are not easily caught with 
the hook during their spawning season, and it is at this time 
that “gill-nets” are used to the best advantage. The mack- 
erel at this time are very lean, and the flesh has a darkish 
appearance, while at the time of their departure from the 
coast they are flat and plump, and are then considered to be 
in the best condition for food, and oo bring the 
- highest price. 
In comparing the number observed in one season with 
another the difference may be very great, but on the whole 
they cannot be considered as either increasing or decreasing 
in numbers. Some seasons they will be very plentiful, and 
schools of them may be seen near the surface of the water 
one or two miles in extent. When seen thus manceuvring 
in such great abundance they will not allow themselves to be 
taken with the hook very extensively; it is then that the 
purse-seines are used to the best advantage in capturing 
them. At other times, perhaps the following day, the fish 
will be entirely unobservable in the water, but when " tole- 
bait” is thrown over to “raise them,” they will perhaps soon 
be seen by the side of the vessel in vast numbers, and will 
readily take the hook. Sometimes a crew of fifteen men 
will catch over a hundred barrels of them in a few hours. 
In those years when many fish are seen it has been observed 
that they are small, and that in those seasons in which the 
number is less they are large. This is probably owing in 
part to the number destroyed when young, and in part to 
the fact of a larger number than usual spawning on the 
outer banks. 
Mackerel are always on the move and migrate in schools. 
In the spring, when they are caught in gill-nets, the quantity 
taken in the different nights varies considerably. Fishing 
with “drift-nets” is practiced in the night, for the fish can- 
not be caught in this way in the daytime, as the net is then 
