HERRING. 189 



glowed with a living light, which the imagination could not 

 create, and the pencil never imitate. The shades of gold and 

 silvery gems were rich beyond description ; and, much as I 

 had heard of phosphoric splendour before, every idea I had 

 formed fell infinitely short of its reality. 



" The same care with which we entered disembarrassed us 

 of the midnight fishing ; every boat we passed pressed hard 

 to throw in a cast of skuddawns (Herrings) for the strange 

 gentleman ; and such was the kindness of these hospitable 

 creatures, that, had I been a very Behemoth, I should have 

 this night feasted to satiety on their bounty. 



" The wind, which had been asleep, began now to sigh 

 over the surface, and before we had cleared the outer back 

 ropes, the sea-breeze came curling the midnight wave. The 

 tide was flowing fast, and having stepped the mast, we spread 

 our large lug, and the light galley slipped speedily ashore." 



In his Prize Essay on the Fishes of the Forth, Dr. Par- 

 nell says, " Herrings enter the Frith of Forth about the end 

 of December, or the beginning of January, and remain two or 

 three weeks at the mouth of the estuary before they attempt 

 to ascend. This delay seems greatly to depend on the state 

 of the weather ; for in some seasons, when it is mild and fine, 

 they have been observed to swarm in the Frith off Mussel- 

 burgh in the early part of January ; whilst, in the rough and 

 stormy seasons, they do not make their appearance on that 

 part of the coast before the middle of February ; and always 

 disappear before the end of March. They seem to visit the 

 Frith regularly every winter ; and a season very seldom passes 

 without a few being captured, and sent to the Edinburgh 

 market. Some years they appear in much larger shoals than 

 in others, the reason of which is not accounted for. In the 

 year 1816, Pilchards were taken in the Frith of Forth in 

 great abundance, when not a dozen Herrings were seen dur- 

 ing the whole winter. Since that time, not a single Pilchard 



