86 ACANTHOPTERYGII. — TRIGLAD^. 



The principal mode of taking Gurnards is by 

 means of the trawl-net, a long conical net already 

 described, dragged along the bottom after a boat 

 under sail. But the Grey Gurnard is taken on 

 the coast of Ireland, by the fleet-line, like the 

 Mackerel. A writer in the "New Sporting 

 Magazine," who well describes him as " all points 

 and angles," his " huge horny bony head, armed 

 at all points with barbs and thorns," his " tremen- 

 dous dorsal fin, a natural chevaux de frise, for the 

 hand of the incautious fisherman ;" and, as to his 

 habits, as " living perpetually on the surface, and 

 being prodigiously gregarious and voracious be- 

 yond all example," says, " I have sailed through 

 them in shoals to which the eye could see no 

 limit, rolling lazily on the water, with the points 

 of the fin projecting over the surface, and swallow- 

 ing everything which came within view. In the 

 summer months their sole food is the herring-fry ; 

 and I have often found them gorged with the 

 miserable little fish to an extent which their size 

 would seem to render absolutely impossible." 



" In unhooking the Mackerel there is no diffi- 

 culty. It is not so, however, with his friend and 

 companion the Gurnard. He is a far more 

 dangerous customer, even, than the Perch, the 

 terror of the inexperienced river angler. The 

 moment your hand touches him, — whisk ! up fly 

 the back fin, the thorns of the head, and the whole 

 array of points and barbs with which he so 

 liberally provides you ; and it may be that your 

 lacerated fingers will remind you for several days 

 of the necessity for caution in every future at- 

 tempt. The ordinary method of avoiding this 

 inconvenience, — more serious than might perhaps 



