292 PILCHARD. ANCHOVY. SHAD. 



THE PILCHARD. 



This fish has a general resemblance to the herring ; but 

 its body is less compressed, thicker, and rounder ; the nose 

 and under jaw are also shorter, the back more elevated, 

 and the belly less sharp. The scales of the pilchard like- 

 wise adhere very closely, whereas those of the herring 

 easily drop off; and the former is the smaller fish, though 

 fatter and fuller of oil. 



Pilchards arrive in vast shoals off the coast of Cornwall 

 towards the middle of July, and retire about the com- 

 mencement of winter. Their motives for migration are 

 the same as those of the herring, but they are partial to a 

 warmer summer situation ; for, excepting on the coast of 

 Cornwall, where they are caught in prodigious quantities, 

 they are not numerous on any of the British shores. 



The pilchard-fishery, in Cornwall, is uncertain, but some- 

 times immensely lucrative. The numbers taken at one 

 shooting of the nets has indeed been astonishingly great, 

 On the fifth of October, 1767, there were at one time in- 

 closed and caught in St. Ives' bay, seven thousand hogs- 

 heads, each containing thirty-five thousand fishes. 



THE ANCHOVY. 



This well-known fish, so generally used in sauces, is 

 about a finger's length, with a pointed snout and a wide 

 mouth. It is caught in prodigious quantities in the Me- 

 diterranean, particularly at Gorgona; and is brought over 

 to our country, pickled. 



THE SHAD. 



The shad has a forked snout, and black spots on the sides. 

 It is very common in the Mediterranean; particularly in 

 the river Nile, up which it annually migrates. The best 

 shads in the British islands are found in the Severn; in 

 which river this fish appears in April or May, and continues 

 about two months. In the Thames it is seldom seen 

 before the beginning of June, and its flesh is less delicate 

 in that river than in the Severn. 



