SPRAT. 199 



In Cornwall the true Sprat is, however, very rare ; and 

 the name is appropriated, as it was by the old fishermen 

 whom Ray consulted one hundred and fifty-six years ago, 

 to the fry of the Herring and of the Pilchard. An analo- 

 gous misapplication of a name exists on the eastern coast, 

 where the true Pilchard rarely occurs, and where the name 

 of Pilchard is given to the fry of the Shad and the half- 

 grown Herring. 



The fishing season begins early in November, continuing 

 through the winter months ; and the largest quantities are 

 taken when the nights are dark and foggy. A few, and 

 those of the best description, are taken in the same manner 

 as the Mackerel, the Pilchard, and the Herring, by drift- 

 nets of fine twine and suitable small mesh ; a mode of fishing 

 peculiarly adapted for the capture of those species which 

 rove in shoals through the water. But the most destructive 

 plan pursued against Sprats is by a mode called stow-boat 

 fishing. The stow-boat net goes with two horizontal beams : 

 the lower one, twenty-two feet long, is suspended a fathom 

 above the ground ; the upper one, a foot shorter in length, 

 is suspended about six fathoms above the lower one. To 

 these two beams, or balks, as they are called, a large bag-net 

 is fixed, towards the end of which, called the hose, the mesh 

 is fine enough to stop very small fry. The mouth of the 

 net, twenty-two feet wide and thirty-six feet high, is kept 

 square by hanging it to a cable and heavy anchor at the four 

 ends of the beams. The net is set under the boat's bottom ; 

 and a rope from each end of the upper beam, brought up 

 over each bow of the boat, raises and sustains the beam, 

 and keeps the mouth of the net always open, and so moored 

 that the tide carries everything into it. A strong rope, 

 which runs through an iron ring at the middle of the upper 

 beam, and is made fast to the middle of the lower beam, 

 brings both beams together parallel, thus closing the mouth 



