Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/231

* BLUEFIELDS. 201 BLUE GJIASS. fniits. Population, over 2000. Blupfiolds has been tlie scene of disputes between England and ><'ic;>ra^'ia. BLTJEFIN. See Bl.ckfix. BLtTEFISH (so called from its bluish or greenish color). A well-known food and game lish {I'omatomiiK saltatrix) of wide distribution, conunon in summer along the eastern coast of the United States. It is the sole representative of the family Poniatomidie, and closely allied to the mackerels. It occurs in nearly all wann seas, including the ilediterranean (south shore), but is absent from British waters and from the vicinity of Bermuda and the western islands. Along the southern United States coast it is called 'skipjack,' or 'skip-mackerel,' and the young are called 'snappers.' Bluefish may be found more or less all the year off the eastern coast of the United States, but become abundant in May, when they pursue the schools of fishes seeking inshore spawning- grounds. As to their own reproduction little is known; it is regarded as certain that they do not spawn in inshore United States waters, nnless, as some believe, they do so in the Gulf of Jlexico. The young fish that first appear in northerly waters in August are about 5 inches long, but they grow with great rapidity, becoming 1'2 or 15 inches long by the next year. They increase after that even more rapidly. It is on record that one of "25 pounds has been taken in Buz- zard's Bay, ilass. ; but examples of 10 pounds are heavy, and the ordinary catch is from 2 to 5 pounds. A 3-pound fish is about 21 inches long; one of S pounds, nearly 30 inches. The color is bluish or greenish above and silvery below, with a black blotch at the base of the pectoral fin. ( For the form, see Colored Plate of Food- Fishes.) The bluefish is a voracious feeder upon fish — the most destructive and remorseless bandit of the northern seas. "Going in large schools, in pursuit of fish not much inferior to themselves in size," writes Prof. S. F. Baird, "they move along like a pack of hungiy wolves, destroying everjthing before them. Their trail is marked by fragments of fish and by the stain of blood in the sea: as where the fish is too large to be swallowed entire. ... It kills manj- more than it requires for its own use." This exces- bive voracity, which characterizes the young as well as the old, is a very serious factor in the mortality of the sea, and undoubtedly diminishes in an extensive and persistent way the numbers of many other gregarious fishes, and particularly of the menhaden. They are also very fond of squid: also of certain kinds of marine annelids; and as these animals are the favorite food of sev- eral other fishes, their diminution is another indirect effect of the general destruction of fish- life to be charged to the bluefish. They some- times ascend the larger rivers; going up the Hudson, for instance, as far as the tide sets. The bluefish is regarded in the Northern States as one of the very l)est table-fish, but is not liked south of Cape May: yet the taste is growing there. The wholesale dealers of Xew York alone handle from 4.000,000 to 5,000,000 pounds annually, worth $250,000 to .$300,000. Large quantities of these market-fish are taken in weirs or pounds from the eastern end of Long Island to Cape Cod, and still greater qantities by gill-nets, while line-fishing yielJ.'j a fair proportion. See Fisheries. The sport of bltirfishiiig is perhaps the fore- most in American marine angling. One mode of capture is by trolling: but as in that method the boat is moving and the fish hooks itself, it gives little sport. If excitement in capture is desired, it is easily obtained by 'chumming,' wherein the boat is anchored, and the fish are attracted to it by throwing overboard small pieces of menhaden, with which the hook is only baited. The bluefish is then handled on a rod, and the fisherman will have plenty of sport, for his prey is an animal of great intelligence and lesource, as well as a frantic fighter. Another common method is by heaving from the shore. "Xo rod [or only a short one] is used; but the angler, standing on the beach or in the break- ers, whirls his heavy jig about his head and casts it far into the sea ; and having hooked his fish, he puts his shoulder to the line and walks up the beach, dragging his prize after him to the shore. This is practiced even^vhere on the exposed sandy beaches, such as border Xew Jer- sey, Long Island, and many shores eastward. Other anglers prefer to use a light rod and an artificial minnow from a stationary skiff, or to fish with shrimp bait from the wharves in quiet bays, whei'e yoiuig bluefish resort, BLUE FLAG. See Ibis. BLtTEGILL, A local name of the blue sunfish of the ^Mississippi 'alley. See Suxfish, BLUEGOWNS. A name commonly given to the bedesmen or beadsmen of the Scottish kings. In ancient times, a beadsman was a per- son employed to pray for another. ( See Be.d. ) From this practice sprang up a custom in Scotland of appointing beadsmen with a small royal bounty, who ultimately degenerated into a class of authorized mendicants. On his Maj- esty's birthday each beadsman received a gown of blue cloth ( hence the name ), a loaf of bread, a bottle of ale, and a leathern purse containing a penny for every year of the King's life. Every birthday, another beadsman was added to the number. The most important part of the privi- lege was a large pewter badge, attached to the breast of the gown, which, besides the name of the bearer, had the inscription. Pass and repass. This implied the privilege of begging and be- spoke the kindly consideration of all to whom the beadsman appealed for an alms or a night's lodging. The character of Edie Ochiltree, in Sir Walter Scott's Aiitiquary, is a fair sample of this ancient and picturesque fraternity. The practice of appointing beadsmen was discon- tinued in 1833, at which time there were sixty on the roll. All of them have now died out. May, 1863, is the date of the last allowanee drawn by a beadsman from the Exchequer in Edinburgh. BLUE GRASS, Ke.tucky Blc^ Grass, .Tine Gr.vss, SrE.ui-GRAss, or Meadow-Grass, I'oa pratensis. A species common in the cooler parts of the United States, Europe, and Asia. It grows well upon almost any soil not too sandy, but attains its best development upon clay soils overlying limestone. In the United States it grows in great perfection in the limestone regions of Kentucky and Tennessee, the famous Blue Grass Region of the former being named for that fact. Blue grass, while furnishing hay of excel-