a farm-house or other humble dwelling along the river, the ancient occupation of knitting of fish-nets has been plied through the long winter evenings, perhaps every grown member of the household, the mother and her daughters as well as the father and his sons, lending a hand.  The ordinary gill or drift-net used for shad fishing in the Hudson is from a half to three-quarters of a mile long, and thirty feet wide, containing about fifty or sixty pounds of fine linen twine, and it is a labor of many months to knit one.  Formerly the fish were taken mainly by immense seines, hauled by a large number of men; but now all the deeper part of the river is fished with the long, delicate gill-nets that drift to and fro with the tide, and are managed by two men in a boat.  The net is of fine linen thread, and is practically invisible to the shad in the obscure river current:  it hangs suspended perpendicularly in the water, kept in position by buoys at the top and by weights at the bottom; the buoys are attached by cords twelve or fifteen feet long, which allow the net to sink out of the reach of the keels of passing vessels.  The net is thrown out on the ebb tide, stretching nearly across the river, and drifts down and then back on the flood, the fish being snared behind the gills in their efforts to pass through the meshes.  I envy fishermen their intimate acquaintance with the river.  They know it by night as well as by day, and learn all its moods and phases.  The net is a delicate instrument that reveals all the hidden currents and by-ways, as well as all the sunken snags and wrecks at the bottom.  By day the fisherman notes the shape and position of his net by means of the line or buoys; by night he marks the far end of it with a lantern fastened upon a board or block.  The night tides he finds differ from the day—­the flood at night being much stronger than at other times, as if some pressure had been removed with the sun, and the freed currents found less hindrance.  The fishermen have terms and phrases of their own.  The wooden tray upon which the net is coiled, and which sits in the stern of the boat, is called a ‘cuddy.’  The net is divided into ‘shots.’  If a passing sloop or schooner catches it with her centre-board or her anchor, it gives way where two or three shoots meet, and thus the whole net is not torn.  The top cord or line of the net is called a ‘cimline.’  One fisherman ‘plugs’ another when he puts out from the shore and casts in ahead of him, instead of going to the general starting place, and taking his turn.  This always makes bad blood.  The luck of the born fisherman is about as conspicuous with the gill-net as with the rod and line, some boats being noted for their great catches the season through.  No doubt the secret is mainly through application to the business in hand, but that is about all that distinguishes the successful angler.  The shad campaign is one that requires pluck and endurance; no regular sleep, no regular meals; wet and cold, heat and wind and