THE PILCHARD^THE STURGEON 



all-trades spratting, crabbing, mackerelling, trawling. 

 But, when July comes, every other interest is put on 

 one side by the men of St. Ives and Penzance for the sake 

 of the pilchard-harvest, which will last till the equinoctial 

 storms of late September have begun to drive the fish to 

 the ground, or further out to sea. 



The pilchard, or the "gypsy herring" as the Scotch 

 fishermen call it, is merely a large sardine or a small 

 herring, and may be of any length up to nine inches. 

 Really it can be found off the Cornish coast at all seasons 

 of the year, though in December and January one would 

 have to go down to the mud after it ; in March it begins 

 to shoal, but to no great extent, and the fishery seldom 

 starts before the end of June or beginning of July. For 

 some good reason the pilchard has, through successive cen- 

 turies, decided that that particular quarter of the Atlantic 

 is best adapted to spawning purposes and to the special 

 class of food which it most affects ; and thus, year after 

 year, it chooses almost the same spots for shoaling. It is 

 a most voracious little creature, its food consisting mainly 

 of a kind of shrimp scarcely larger than a pin's head, or 

 of the roes of dead fish when it can get them. 



A shoal of pilchards must be seen in order to be fully 

 realised. It has been likened to an immense army, with 

 wings outstretched in line with the land, and composed of 

 contingents which are continually taking up a new posi- 

 tion. Wherever the shoals move, they give the appear- 

 ance of a cloud-shadow to the water-surface, and by this 

 the pilchard-watchmen profit; for men are placed on 

 rising ground to look for these signs, and the moment 



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