The first "run" sends a quiver of excitement through the communities of fishers, and the news is telegraphed from New York to Albany. The newspapers herald the coming of the shad and the marketmen display them with pride and expatiate upon their merits. At that time a multitude of the passengers returning from the Jersey shore to Manhattan by w^ay of the upper ferries may be seen carrying mysterious newspaper packages, that emit a fishy odour. These are generally heads of families who have learned the advantage of buying their shad as they come fresh from the nets. The schools of fish ascend the river to spawn and are in prime condition during their upward migration, re-

Sports and Industries 437

turning in a few weeks so ]:)oor and thin that a proverbial synonym for leanness and poverty is " the last run of shad." The Fish Commissioners have a shad station at Catskill where the weio^ht and size of the fish taken, the

MENDING NETS AT GARRISON

preponderance of the roe over buck shad, and all other data for statistical reports are carefully noted. Mr. A. N. Cheney, State Fish Culturalist, wrote, in 1895, that: It is extremely doul^tful, under the present law, and present manner of fishing the river, if the Hudson can be considered a self-sustaining shad river. The demand upon it grows with increase of population and improved facilities for shipping shad to a distance. It is not alone among the people living along the river that the shad find a market, but hundreds of miles of railways act as distributing agents and take shad where formerly thev w^ere unknown. Since 1S82. the United States Fish Commission has made large contributions of shad fry and eggs to the Hudson, and these contributions have been important factors in keeping the supply up to the present figures.