CHAP, vi.] THE PILCHARD HERRING. 251 



being brawlers, or that they wilfully injure the drift-nets ; 

 and they assert that both kinds of fishing can perfectly well 

 be carried on simultaneously on the same fishing-ground. In 

 fact the trawlers, in my opinion, have thoroughly made out 

 their case ; and the commissioners, I am very glad to record, 

 have decided in their favour. 



The pilchard is generally captured by means of the seine- 

 net, and we never hear of its being injured thereby. It is also 

 cured in large quantities, the same as the herring, although 

 the modus operandi is somewhat different. 



The pilchard was at one time, like the herring, thought to 

 be a migratory fish, but it has been found, as in the case of 

 the common herring, to be a native of our own seas. In some 

 years the pilchard has been known to shed its spawn in May, 

 but the usual time is October, and Mr. Couch thinks that 

 fish does not breed twice in the same year. Their food, we 

 are told by Mr, Couch, is small crustaceous animals, as their 

 stomachs are frequently crammed with a small kind of shrimp, 

 and the supply of this kind of food is thought to be enor- 

 mous. When on the coast, the assemblage of pilchards 

 assumes an arrangement like that of a great army, and the 

 vast shoal is known to be made up by the coming together of 

 smaller bodies of that fish, and these frequently separate and 

 rejoin, and are constantly shifting their position. The pil- 

 chard is not now so numerous as it was a few years ago, but 

 very large hauls are still occasionally obtained. According to 

 a recent statement in the Times, the present pilchard season 

 (1865) seems to have been a very bad one " the worst that has 

 been experienced for upwards of twenty years. The great 

 majority of the boats have not nearly cleared their expenses." 



Great excitement prevails on the coast of Cornwall during 

 the pilchard season. Persons watch the water from the coast 

 and signal to those who are in search of the fish the moment 

 they perceive indications of a shoal. These watchers are 



