390 MODERN SEA FISHING 



Scotch call it the Egyptian herring, gosnick, and gowdnock. It 

 rarely or never exceeds eighteen inches in length, and may be 

 distinguished from the garfish by five or six finlets which will 

 be found between the dorsal fin and tail ; there are similar 

 finlets near the tail, on the belly. The edges of its jaws are not 

 serrated as are those of the garfish. 



Very large shoals of skippers visit the coast of Cornwall 

 at the beginning of summer, departing in the autumn ; and 

 hundreds may sometimes be seen leaping out of the water at 

 one time, this peculiarity no doubt giving them some of their 

 local names. They probably do great harm to the pilchards, 

 which they attack and sometimes transfix with their little 

 sharp snouts. A few are sometimes caught on small baited 

 hooks, but skippers would not be specially fished for. 



The HERRING is a remarkable fish. I have often wondered 

 why no one has written a book on him, for there is much more 

 material for such a work than there is for a dissertation on 

 any other of our food fishes. At the same time, I doubt if we 

 really know more about the herring than we do of the salmon. 

 There is a herring language peculiar to fishermen, fishcurers, 

 and salesmen ; there are herring legends ; and there is a most 

 powerful mass of fishery statistics. How many people, I 

 wonder, know the meaning of over-day-tart, Matties or niaties, 

 and gut-pock herring? Sodger and soldier we know, but what 

 are these ? White-herring, green-herring, red-herring, black- 

 herring, kings and queens all these are terms of mystery; 

 possibly of deep meaning. Let me say at once that an over-day- 

 tart is a costermonger's phrase, applied to herrings which have 

 been kept over twenty-four hours without being salted, and 

 have reddened considerably, owing to the extravasated blood 

 near fins and gills. A gut-pock herring is a Scotch term applied 

 to fish which have made a hearty meal and distended themselves 

 with small crabs, &c. Matties or mattes, a word possibly derived 



