480 SUPPLEMENT ON 



and the most favourable season for the fishery is from the end 

 of March to that of May. 



They have a habit of following boats which are laden 

 with salt, which causes them to be sometimes taken even 

 at Paris. They also generally endeavour to vanquish any 

 obstacles which oppose their progress, in consequence of 

 which many of them are caught at the bottom of the dams of 

 rivers, &c. 



Ausonius tells us, that in his time the shad was regarded 

 by the Bordelais as an aliment fit only for the lowest of the 

 people. 



This is a remarkable example of the changes of opinion in 

 matters of taste; at the present day it is served up on the best 

 tables. 



The flesh of the shad, when fresh, is very delicate, and 

 much esteemed. The Russians, however, imagine that it 

 possesses some deleterious qualities, and in this persuasion 

 they throw the shads out of their nets, or sell them at a trifling 

 price to the Tartars, who are less prudent, or less difficult to 

 please. In many countries they are fished in great abundance 

 and smoke-dried. The Arabs dry them in the air, and eat 

 them with dates. 



C pilchardus (the pilchard) is about the size of the her- 

 ring, and is caught more particularly on the coast of Cornwall, 

 where it arrives in large troops towards the end of July, dis- 

 appears in autumn, and shows itself again in the beginning 

 of January. Severe cold sometimes retards the return of the 

 pilchards, and storms turn them from their course ; their 

 arrival is carefully looked for by the fishermen, and indi- 

 cated, at some distance, by the concourse of sea-birds, by the 

 phosphoric light emitted by these fishes, and by the odour 

 which is exhaled from their milt. 



The pilchards form an useful and important article of com- 



