212 FISHES OF THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 



estuary as Queensferry, and on one occasion I saw a small 

 specimen taken in the spirling nets near Alloa. After 

 October they are seldom seen in the Firth, but are sup- 

 posed to retire, like the other gregarious fishes, to the 

 deep sea until the following summer. " On the coast of 

 Ireland the mackerel is taken from the county of Kerry 

 in the west, along the southern shore eastward to Cork 

 and Waterford ; from thence northward to Antrim, and 

 north-west to Londonderry and Donegal. Dr MacCul- 

 loch says, it visits some of the lochs of the Western Is- 

 lands, but is not considered very abundant. On the Corn- 

 ish coast, this fish, in some seasons, occurs as early as the 

 month of March, and appears to be pursuing a course from 

 west to east. They are plentiful on the Devonshire coast, 

 and swarm in West Bay about June. On the Hampshire 

 and Sussex coast, particularly the latter, they arrive as 

 early as March, and sometimes even in Februarv, and the 

 earlier in the year the fishermen go to look for them, the 

 farther from the shore do they seek for and find them. Du- 

 hamel says, the mackerel are caught earlier at Dunkirk, 

 than at Dieppe or Havre ; up our eastern coast, however, 

 the fishing is later. The fishermen of LowestofFe and Yar- 

 mouth gain their great harvest from the mackerel in May 

 and June, and Mr Low in his Fauna Orcadensis, states, that 

 they do not make their appearance there till the last week 

 in July, or the first week in August"* 



The mackerel, it is said, can be taken on the coast of 

 Cornwall every month in the year, but in much greater 

 plenty in the summer season than at any other time. It 

 spawns in June, and the young are seen from four to six 

 inches in length in the month of August, in great numbers, 



• Yarrell's Brilish Fishes. 



