COD, HADDOCKS, WHITING, BREAM, ETC 453 



weeks in August, as many as a hundred being caught in an hour 

 or two on one paternoster. Very large ones are found in the 

 sea lochs of the west coast of Scotland. Once when engaged 

 in this fishing I hooked a small flat fish, and was bringing it to 

 the surface when I saw a grey gurnard following it and biting 

 at its fins. Having unhooked the dab, I rebaited, began to 

 lower my line, and before the lead reached the bottom caught 

 a gurnard ; whether the same one or not, of course cannot be 

 determined with certainty. 



In the Bait chapter I have pointed out the uses of gurnard 

 skin. Pieces of the fresh grey gurnard are in many places good 

 bait for haddocks and other fish. As food I consider it very 

 superior to the red gurnard, but a clever cook can do much 

 with either of them. Their flesh certainly inclines to dryness. 

 Among the best methods of cooking the grey gurnard is to 

 remove the flesh from the bones, stew in stock, and serve a la 

 maitre d' hotel. 



The red gurnard is by no means bad if stuffed, placed belly 

 uppermost with some ham fat lying within it. The savour and 

 moisture of the ham permeate the fish as baking proceeds. 



There are one or two varieties of gurnard which are com- 

 paratively scarce in British waters. These are the LANTHORN 

 (Trigla obscura) ; the PIPER ( Trigla lyra), which maybe known 

 by its having a forked or divided nose, and being in colour a 

 bright red ; and the STREAKED GURNARD (Trigla lineatd), which 

 is curiously marked with fine red lines running from the back 

 to the belly. It is a deep red colour. 



The WRASSES are among the most beautiful and at the 

 same time most worthless fish found in the sea. No pen can 

 properly describe the beauty of some of these fish when they 

 are first brought out of the water, their marbled sides glistening 

 in all the colours of the rainbow. One of the most common 

 varieties is Labrus lineatus, termed by Couch the GREEN 



