DRIFT-NET FISHING. 131 



coast out of reach of the scans. There seems no doubt 

 that the great shoals which visit St. Ives strike the 

 coast not far north of that place ; and although a few 

 pilchards are sometimes caught at Tenhy, they do not 

 appear generally to enter the Bristol Channel. It is 

 only towards the end of the season that they come very 

 near the north coast of Cornwall, and they are then 

 going in a southerly direction, to be seen no more till 

 the following year. 



A great deal has been written at various times about 

 the pilchard, and, from its comparative localization and 

 abundance on our south-western coasts^ it might be 

 expected that the regular habits of the fish would be 

 tolerably well understood ; there are many points in its 

 economy, however, still requiring investigation, and 

 among them the spawning habits may be specially 

 mentioned. Where and when does spawning take 

 place ? It is a process which we might reasonably 

 anticipate would be carried out according to some 

 definite rule of season and locality ; but apparently this 

 is not altogether the case, and the capricious move- 

 ments of the pilchard are to some extent paralleled by 

 the variation in its spawning habits, so far as they are 

 known. It appears pretty certain that the bulk of tbe 

 pilchards caught on the Cornish coasts are fat fish and 

 with undeveloped roes. They will not cure or " save " 

 well if they are not in this condition ; and cured 

 pilchards have been an important article of export to 

 the Italian states for very many years. The pilchard 

 fishery lasts from July to December ; but in April and 

 May these fish are met with by the mackerel "drivers" 

 at a long distance from the land, and they are then 

 ready for spawning. Tljis might be expected from the 

 fact of most of the fish caught in autumn being with- 



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