284 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXVII. 



fishing-stations; and in the event of an approaching 

 storm, a change of wind, or other dangers, they 

 would be of the greatest use in bringing home the 

 boats, nets, etc., under circumstances in which, at 

 present, much danger and much loss of life and 

 property are sustained. 



There is a general emigration from many of the 

 western stations as soon as the herring season is 

 over. Men, birds, beasts, and rats among the rest, 

 all desert them. Of birds the number is very great: 

 having assembled to feed on the refuse of the her- 

 rings, particularly at the curing stations, they now 

 depart in all directions ; whilst the rats have occa- 

 sionally been seen migrating in large numbers 

 from Wick and other places, and distributing them- 

 selves through the country, in order to change the 

 fish diet, which they have for so many weeks luxu- 

 riated on, for a vegetable one. On the east coast, 

 where the agricultural population is numerous, 

 the refuse of the herrings is used in great quantities 

 as manure, and being laid out in large heaps on 

 the fields preparatory to being mixed with other 

 substances, poison the air and attract great numbers 

 of sea-gulls, who appear very willing to exchange 

 fresh fish for that which is half rotten ; but a sea- 

 gull has a most convenient and unfastidious appetite, 

 thriving on anything that comes in his way. 



