BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 251 
saw 12 or 15 schools of large Block Island mackerel which were not 
mixed with alewives. 
West-southwest and southwest from No Man’s Land, 6 to 8 miles, we 
saw many “pods” and some moderately large schools. One school, 
about 5.15 p. m., was “ cart-wheeling.” 
At 7.30 p. m. twenty-odd sail are working on mackerel about 10 or 12 
miles west-southwest from No Man’s Land. Many boats are out. 
Size of mackerel. 
As a rule the mackerel taken during April were principally tinkers. 
Most of the fish that we saw ranged from about 11 to 13 inches. Mixed 
mackerel were the rule. 
Miscellaneous notes . 
In the early days of seining it is stated that the mackerel never dived 
under the seine j now they do it only too often. I was informed that 
Captain Jacobs once made thirty -two consecutive water-hauls and was 
successful with the thirty-third set. In setting the seine they aim to 
get the heads of the fish ; that is, the advance part of the school, and 
not the tails. 
It is stated that poor fish hang down in the seine much harder than 
fat ones. 
Captain Warren, schooner Alice G. Jordan , told Capt. D. E. Collins 
that on February 10, 1887, he saw about a half barrel of mackerel 10 or 
12 inches long, and very poor, taken in a seine with herring in English 
Harbor, Fortune Bay, Newfoundland. 
It has been generally remarked by the fishermen that mackerel have 
been hard to seine this year. They have been noted for their deep 
diving and sudden disappearances. 
In the latter part of May it was sometimes difficult to dispose of the 
fresh mackerel even in New York. One captain said that he had diffi- 
culty of that kind. It is stated also that the schooner Warren J. 
Crosby carried fish to Philadelphia and had to split them. 
James Bogerson, cook of the Alice S. Hawkes , states that large 
quantities of small mackerel were taken in weirs at West Quoddy, Me., 
in July, 1886, and carried to Eastport. 
Captain Fernald was told by a lobsterman at Seal Cove, Mount 
Desert, Me., that he saw a great mass of mackerel standing on their 
heads on the bottom, the bodies canted a little. 
Captain Fry saw a large spawn in a big Block Island mackerel about 
the end of November, 1886. He examined it carefully. 
Captain Fernald saw lots of large fish about September 1, 1886, about 
Seal Island and Duck Island, Maine, and only one vessel near. They 
seemed very tame, but he could not catch any. 
