COAL FISH. 251 



wand or fishing-rod, and catching young Coalfisli as fast as 

 they coidd bait their hooks. 



As an article of food, it is more prized when small 

 than when of large size. The flesh of specimens weighing 

 from fifteen to thirty pounds is usually preserved, either 

 salted or dried. 



This fish has more provincial names than any other spe- 

 cies, some of which only refer to it when of a particular 

 size. Among the Scotch islands the Coalfish is called 

 Sillock, Piltock, Cooth or Kuth, Harbin, Cudden, Sethe, 

 Sey, and Grey-Lord. In Edinburgh and about the Forth 

 the young are called Podleys ; at Newcastle the fry are 

 called Coalsey ; and, when twelve inches long, Poodlers. 

 Many are caught along shore ; and frequently, also, from a 

 boat rowed gently, the angler using a rod in each hand, and 

 trailing a fly from each line. 



Mr. Couch says, " It is in the highest condition from 

 October to December, at which season it prowls after prey 

 in large companies ; so that when met with they prove a 

 valuable capture to the fishermen : for though but coarse 

 food, yet being wholesome, substantial, and cheap, they 

 are eagerly purchased by the poor either fresh or salted. 

 They swim at no great depth, and with great rapidity ; 

 but when attracted by bait, will keep near a boat until all 

 are taken ; and I have known four men with two boats, 

 two men in each boat, take twenty-four hundred-weight 

 with lines in a very few hours. The season for spawning 

 is early in spring; immediately after which this fish becomes 

 so lank as to be worthless, in which state it continues through 

 the summer." 



In the Orkneys, according to Mr. Low, the young appear 

 about May ; in the Tyne, about June ; and on the Cornish 

 coast in July. The adult fish are called Rauning Pollacks 

 by the Cornish fishermen : vanning being the ancient and 



