CLUPEID^E. 223 



by the Statute of Herrings. On the old arms of the town were figured what 

 are proverbially known as " Yarmouth capons," az. three herrings, arg. 



In 1563 green or fresh herrings were so scarce, that at Yarmouth, the great 

 mart, they sold at an unusually high rate ; a last, or eighty bushels, brought 9. 



In France, until the close of the seventeenth century, fish diet was scru- 

 pulously observed on fast days. Thibaut VI, Count de Blois, gave annually (by 

 charter, 1215) five hundred herrings to the hospital of Beaugency. Among the 

 extensive charities of Saint Louis to monasteries and hospitals were sixty-eight 

 thousand herrings. In olden times the soldiers engaged in warfare observed 

 their Lent. Thus history informs us that while the English were besieging Orleans 

 in 1428 one of the convoy of provisions destined for their camp was attacked by 

 the Duke de Bourbon. It consisted chiefly of salted herrings, which gave rise to 

 the conflict being called the " Battle of the Herrings." 



A curious notice respecting the connection of herrings with marriages 

 appeared in the Times (November 28, 1871), showing the results of the Scottish 

 registers. In the return for the third quarter of the year, the registrar of 

 Fraserburgh stated that the herring fishery was very successful, and the value 

 of the catch, including casks and curing, amounted to 130,000 sterling, and the 

 marriages were eighty per cent, above the average. On the other hand, the 

 registrar of Tarbet reported a steady falling off in the fishing at that creek, and 

 consequently the quarter passed without an entry in the parish register. The 

 registrar of Lochgilphead stated the herring fishery to have been a failure in the 

 loch, and this accounted for a blank in the marriage column for the quarter. 

 One registrar, in his return for the quarter, reported marriages in his district 

 "like angels' visits, few and far between." At the fishing villages it might be 

 put more briefly no herring no wedding. 



Diseases and causes of destruction. Whales, porpoises, seals, members of the 

 cod family, dog-fishes, in short all predaceous fishes, especially hakes and whiting, 

 feed on them from the time of their birth and throughout their entire existence, 

 and in this they are assisted by birds of various sorts. Gannets are occasionally 

 so gorged with herrings that they are actually unable to fly. In the North Sea 

 the cod fishes leave the sea bottom at night time and ascend to the herring nets, 

 from whence they violently pull out quantities of the meshed fish, and at the same 

 time occasion much damage to the lighter kinds of cotton nets, in which they 

 tear large holes. 



Habitat. White Sea, and perhaps extending into some parts of the Arctic 

 Ocean : the colder to the temperate portions of the Atlantic : the North Sea and 

 the Baltic, in which latter locality they are a small and inferior race. Also the 

 North Pacific. 



In the Orkneys, Low observed that the Shetland Isles swarm with them in 

 April and later, the east coast of Caithness in August, the Hebrides at the latter 

 end of the year. The Sounds at certain seasons are alive with the fry. I have 

 already alluded to their distribution along Scotland, the west coast of which 

 country is studded with lochs, from which it is asserted they have commenced 

 more or less to absent themselves, while along the east coast, possessing but 

 three large bays or firths, they have latterly forsaken their haunts about 7 miles 

 out to sea, and receded to 20, 30, or even 100 miles. I have also alluded to the 

 distribution of the herring on the British coast, while it is common round 

 Ireland. Along the southern shores of England I have already observed these 

 fish are in diminished numbers. 



The size to which herrings attain varies. De Caux observes that the largest 

 he has personally seen was 15| inches in length, but that Mr. Utting, of Great 

 Yarmouth, had one which was 17 inches long, but the usual average off our east 

 coast is from 10 to 11 inches, and, if full, weighing from 4 to 6 ounces : a full 

 one, 11 1 inches long, will weigh 8 ounces. Buckland stated that the largest 

 herrings submitted to him were from the Shetlands, the milt and roe were but 

 slightly developed, they were very fat, and as long as 9j inches and 7\ ounces 

 weight. Sim, at Aberdeen, weighed some full ones 12j inches long, and they 

 were only 8^ ounces : the largest example he found in 1880 was 12^ inches, and 

 weighed 9| ounces. It was a full one. 



