39 6 
AMERICAN EISHES. 
by an examination of the tables which show the movements of the Shad. 
The Gaspereau or “Spring Herring” usually precedes the Shad by a 
period of several weeks, while the run of the “Blue-back” or “Glut 
Herring” occurs in the middle of the Shad season. 
One of the earliest American observers thus spoke of their habits : 
At the end of March begins the spring by Sol’s new elevation, 
Stealing away the Earth’s white robe, dropping with sweat’s vexation. 
The Codfish, Holybut and Barse do sport the rivers in, 
And Allwives, with their crowdy sholes in every creek do swim. 
Good Newes from New England, 1678. 
Little is known concerning the food of the river Alewives in their salt¬ 
water habitat. It is, however, supposed that they, like the Shad, exist 
largely upon swimming crustaceans. When in the rivers they do not feed 
to any considerable extent, although they have been known in a few in¬ 
stances to take the fly. 
The eggs of the Alewife are adhesive, like those of the sea Herring, 
though to a much less degree. The number of eggs varies from sixty 
thousand to one hundred thousand, in accordance with the size of the 
individual. They are deposited upon the bottom in shoal water, or on 
whatever object they may come in contact with. The time for spawning, 
after the fish have entered the river, depends, as in the case of the Shad, 
entirely on the temperature of the water. The spawning of the “ Glut 
Herring ” takes place under ordinary conditions at a temperature of 70° 
to 70° F.; that of the “ Branch Herring,” when the water is as low as 
55 0 to 6o° F. The period of development varies directly with the 
temperature. 
“ During past years,” writes McDonald, “ the Alewife has frequently 
been artificially introduced into new waters or over dams by the trans¬ 
portation of fish of considerable size. This is constantly done on Cape 
Cod in the restocking of the herring streams which have been exhausted, 
and was successfully accomplished by Gen. N. L. Lincoln, in Maine, as 
long ago as 1750.” 
“Herring eggs have frequently been artificially impregnated by men 
engaged in shad culture. The young fish artificially hatched have in some 
instances been transported. In 1882, two million were sent to Texas by 
the United States Fish Commission and deposited in the Colorado River. 
Artificial hatching would seem less necessary in the case of the Alewife 
