58G 
MB. C. STACY- WATSON ON THE HERRING. 
Considerable light has been shed upon this point of late years by 
scientific and observant practical men, and to some extent the 
distinctiveness of the various tribes and their favourite haunts 
have been established ; with your indulgence we will rapidly pass 
in review some of these various local races, beginning with those 
in the more distant seas. 
On the north-west coast of America, in the Alaska waters, there 
lives a variety of Herring, which periodically visits the spawning 
ground in the summer months, when the Indians put forth to 
capture them ; they are said to be very numerous, and to swim in 
such large shoals that they break up the surface of the water. On 
the east coast of the United States of America, olf the shores 
of Carolina, there exists a beautifully proportioned though small 
Herring, rich in quality and much prized as a dainty food, it is 
known as the “ Carolina Koe Herring ” on account of its fine roe. 
At the mouth of the James Kiver swims a Herring which 
delights to take a draught of fresh water ; it is found disporting 
itself some distance up the red waters of the river, where it seems 
to spend some portion of its existence away from the sea ; it is not 
known why it seeks the fresh waters, but 1 incline to the belief 
that it does so to escape its deep water enemies. Its appearance is 
quite distinct from the South Carolina Herring. 
Off the Potomac Kiver in Chesapeake Kay, a little to the north 
of James Kiver, there are said to be five distinct varieties, viz., 
(1) the Kranch Herring, (2) the Common Glut Herring, (3) the 
Poplar Pack (backs yellow poplar), (4) Hun Kellies (sides have 
a yellowish appearance, as if gold dust had been sprinkled over 
them and rubbed in) ; (o) May Plipper (appears in May), “a small 
delicious Herring, so called because it jumps and flips higher out 
of the water than any others.” 
Coming further northward we find in Massachusetts Kay and 
contiguous waters, at a distance of from fifty to one hundred and 
fifty miles off, there are two distinct schools, one consisting of 
small Herrings which frequent the inshore grounds, and a larger 
Herring which keeps to the more distant waters ; they both put m 
an appearance in the months of April and May. 
Off the coast of Main, to the north of Massachusetts, again two 
varieties are found, which with undeviating regularity appear on 
the grounds, one about the middle of J uly, remaining about 
