36 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



to be taken in any one year on the Scotch coast, if 

 they had not been caught, would, from the acknow- 

 ledged voracity of those predaceous fishes, have exceeded 

 the total number of herrings which ordinarily fall to 

 the share of all the Scotch fisherlnen. Of course this is ' 

 only an estimate, and we know that such calculations 

 are liable to error ; but from what fishermen tell us of 

 the way in which cod attend on the shoals of herrings — 

 from the manner in which the cod caught during the 

 herring seasons are crammed with those fish, as we have 

 ourselves had opportunities of seeing, and from the 

 herring being one of the most killing baits for it, we 

 cannot doubt that the estimate in this case (two herrings 

 daily for seven mouths for each cod) is below rather 

 than above the truth. But the cod and ling are only 

 two of a host of enemies the herring has to escape from 

 if it can. It is well known that during the herring 

 season whales and porpoises are among the surest signs 

 of there being plenty of these fish in the neighbour- 

 hood ; and the gathering togetlier of gulls and other 

 sea birds is another of what is called the " appearances 

 of fish." What may be the daily consumption by all 

 these hungry mouths it is impossible to conceive, but we 

 may feel assured that it is enormous ; and we may add 

 that, so far as we can judge from the behaviour of seals, 

 sea birds, and sea fish in confinement, digestion in fish- 

 eating vertebrates must go on with great rapidity, for 

 their appetites appear to be insatiable. We have not 

 mentioned the countless scattered sea birds or the 

 several kinds of fish, besides the cod, which contribute 

 to the destruction of the herring ; but we think enough 

 has been said to show that the fishermen's share of the 

 spoil cannot be a large one. And when it is remem- 

 bered that the herring fisliery on our coasts has been 



