'594 MITCHILL ON THE FISHES OF NEW-YORK, 



ming bladder capacious and thick. Peritoneum, on opening the abdo- 

 men, blackish. Two patches of teeth in-the upper part of the throat, 

 and two smaller corresponding patches on the lower part, a short dis- 

 tance in front, of the entrance of the gullet. But all of these are 

 very inferior in strength and size to those of the mouth. 



This noble fish visits the neighbourhood of Long-Island annually. 

 Emerging from the depths of the ocean, he finds, in the recesses and 

 inlets there, a plenty of the crabs, muscles, and clams on which he 

 loves to feed. He confines himself strictly to the salt water, never 

 having been seen in the fresh rivers. His term of continuance is only 

 during the warmest season ; that is, from the beginning of June to the 

 middle of September. He then departs to the unknown depths of the 

 Atlantic, and is seen no more until the ensuing summer. I have, how- 

 ever, known him to stay later ; for one of the most numerous collec- 

 tions of sheep's head I ever saw in the New-York market, was on the 

 4th October, 1814. I have seen him as late as the 17th. 



The sheep's head swims in shoals, and is sometimes surrounded in 

 great numbers by the seine. Several hundreds have often been taken 

 at a single haul, with the long sweeping nets in use, near Raynortown, 

 Babylon, and Fire-Island. They even tell of a thousand brought to 

 land at a draught. 



He also bites at the hook, and several are not unfrequently caught in 

 succession. The outfit of a sheep's heading party is always an occasion 

 of considerable parade and high expectation, as I have often expe- 

 rienced. Whenever a sheep's head is brought on board the boat, more 

 joy is manifested than by the possession of any other kind of fish. The 

 sportsmen view the exercise so much above common fishing, that the 

 capture of the sheep's head is the most desirable combination of luck 

 with skill ; and the feats of hooking and pulling him in, furnish abundant 

 materials for the most pleasing and hyperbolical stories. The sheep's 



