248 THE HERRING. 



calculated to interest and excite. He who has ex- 

 perienced the glorious sensations of sailing on the 

 Western Ocean, a bright autumnal sky above, a deep 

 green lucid swell around, a steady breeze, and as much 

 of it as the hooker can stand up to, will estimate the 

 exquisite enjoyment our morning's mackerel fishing 

 afforded." 



The mackerel cast their roe at the end of June, or 

 the beginning of July, and, like all other fish, are 

 much depreciated as an article of food at that time, 

 and for some weeks afterwards ; the fish being thin, 

 and what flesh remains has lost much of its former 

 flavour and firmness. By the end of September they 

 are again fit for table. The very young mackerel, which 

 are called shiners, are from four to six inches long by 

 the end of August. In the fishing season of the fol- 

 lowing summer these young, then one year old, may 

 be distinguished from older fish by their comparative 

 want of size. The truly adult mackerel attains to 

 sixteen or seventeen inches, with a proportionate in- 

 crease in bulk, the weight about two pounds. Speci- 

 mens of twenty to twenty-three inches in length have 

 been recorded, but the largest fish in this species are 

 not considered the best for the table. Their food is 

 the fry of other fish. 



Next to the mackerel-fishing, as to season, and of 

 greater importance, is that for the herring ; a truly 

 valuable species, inhabiting the deep water all round 

 our coast, and only approaching the shores in any 

 quantity for the purpose of depositing its spawn within 

 the influence of the two principal agents in vivifica- 



