HERLINO OF THE SOL WAY BEING FOUND IN THE TWEED. 51 



my present observations to those habits which have come under my own 

 notice. 



This fish I consider to be the S. albua of Fleming, the Hcrlwj or 

 Hirlingofthe Scotch side of the Sol way Frith, the Whiting of the Eng- 

 lish side, and by which name it is also known in the Eden and Ek, 

 the Phinnock of the north and west of Scotland, the White or Pkinnock 

 of Pennant, and the Silver White of the Tweed tacksmen. 



In the Solway Frith (where I have had the most frequent opportuni- 

 ties of observing them), they commence their approach to the mouths 

 of the rivers about the middle and towards the end of June, if the 

 season has been remarkably dry, and perhaps a few days earlier if there 

 has been much rain. From this time they continue running till about 

 the end of August, when (he greatest body of the shoal is either past or 

 taken. The height of the run, however, may be said to be about the 

 last weeks of July, and their numbers at this time are almost incredible. 

 In the rivers they are caught with the common sweep-nets, in the Frith 

 by the stake-nets of small mesh, or, as they are called, herling-houses. 

 Many hundreds are taken at once in each enclosure at every tide ; the 

 whole neighbourhood are for a short time supplied with them ; - cart- 

 loads are sent for sale to Ecclefechan and Lockerbie and the surround- 

 ing villages, and I have once or twice known them reach Moffat, a dis- 

 tance of above thirty miles from the nets. This abundance, with little 

 exception, seems general wherever they are found. 



They enter the fresh waters for the great business of spawning, and I 

 have observed that in the larger rivers, the great body of the shoal leave 

 the main stream and seek the smaller tributaries, and very few remain 

 where the water continues strong and heavy. The spawning commences 

 earlier than that of the salmon, is of course sooner finished, and by the 

 end of February almost the whole of the old fish have returned to the 

 sea. The young I have never been able to see ; it is probable, how- 

 ever, that they are hatched earlier, and make their way to the salt water 

 when of a small size, and three or four months is a sufficient interval for 

 them to have obtained the size and weight of their first appearance in 

 the following June. 



It may be noticed as remarkable in the history of this fish, and at va- 

 riance with the habits of the other British salmon, that from the time of 

 the return of the old fish or kelts to the sea, not an individual is 

 till the appearance of the great shoal : a few days before 

 pear, and they are the signals for preparations being commenced for 

 their destruction ; but in the intervening four months between March 

 and the end of June, they are never to be met with. In this respect 

 they more resemble the Coregoni, which are completely gregarious, and 

 also the herring, to which I believe the above mentioned genus leads. 



The fish in the Solway very seldom reach 2 Ib. in weight Upon 

 their first arrival * Ib. and J Ib. is a common size, afterwards the greater 



D 2 



