262 COMMON HERRING. 



Common Herring. If we except the cod, there is no 

 kind of fish which are more useful, or afford more 

 abundant employ to the inhabitants of maritime coun- 

 tries, than the Herrings. The shoals of these fish which 

 approach the coasts of this country, are numerous be- 

 yond all the powers of imagination. A single boat has 

 frequently been known to catch more than ten thousand 

 of them in one night. They are migratory, and usually 

 begin to appear off the Shetland Islands about the 

 months of April and May ; but the principal shoal 

 arrives in June. They gradually pass to the southward, 

 and are caught off the coasts of Kent, Sussex, and 

 Hampshire, about the month of November. The ap- 

 pearance of these fish is generally marked by the pre- 

 sence of a great number of sea-fowl of different kinds, 

 which follow their track for the purpose of feeding 

 upon them. Yarmouth, in Norfolk, is considered the 

 great mart for Herrings : there was established there 

 a fair for these fish, so early as the year 1358. The 

 art of pickling Herrings was first invented in Flanders ; 

 and it is said, that in the Netherlands more than 150,000 

 people used formerly to make an entire livelihood by 

 the catching, pickling, and trading in Herrings. And 

 in our own country, many thousand families, on the 

 different coasts, are wholly supported by the Herring- 

 fishery. These fish are remarkable for dying almost 

 immediately after they are taken out of the water ; 

 whence we have a common saying, " as dead as a Her- 

 ring." They feed chiefly on small fish, marine worms, 

 and the lesser species of crabs. Their period of spawn- 

 ing is the beginning of winter, and they are extremely 

 prolific. 



The usual length of the Herring is ten or twelve 

 inches. The under jaw is longer than the upper one. 



