SPRAT. L>91 



body of which moves westward, and pours along the coasts 

 of America as far as Carolina ; while the other directs its 

 course to Europe, and first appears off the Shetland 

 islands in the month of April. From these islands this 

 great army again divides ; one squadron taking the western 

 coasts of Britain towards Ireland, and another the eastern 

 towards the Land's End. During their progress, they are 

 pursued by millions of enemies of all descriptions, and 

 among others, by man ; their approach being carefully 

 watched by the fishermen, who catch them in numbers 

 beyond calculation. 



Considered as an aliment, fresh herrings are not un- 

 wholesome; but, when cured, (as myriads are annually,) 

 they indeed supply the poor with cheap food, but are not 

 considered as particularly nutritive, or easy of digestion. 

 The Dutch are most expert in pickling these fishes ; but 

 the British fisheries have of late years been much improved, 

 and meet with considerable national encouragement; which 

 indeed they well deserve, both in an economical and poli- 

 tical point of view. 



THE SPRAT. 



The sprat has been generally, though erroneously, sup- 

 posed to be a herring not arrived at its full growth, its usual 

 length being only four or five inches. The body, however, 

 is much deeper than that of a young herring of equal mag- 

 nitude ; and the dorsal fin is placed more remote from the 

 nose. There is also another and more distinctive cha- 

 racter ; the herring having fifty-six vertebrae, but this fish 

 only forty-eight. 



Sprats visit our coasts, and continue with us, when the 

 herrings have generally disappeared. They usually arrive 

 in the river Thames about the beginning of November, 

 and quit it in March. They are rather a fat and oily food ; 

 but, when fried, furnish a cheap and not unpleasant meal 

 to the poor, at the most inclement season of the year. 

 They are sometimes prepared as a substitute for anchovy; 

 but their bones dissolve less easily than those of that fish, 

 o 2 



