240 WHEN THE HERRING IS BEST. [CHAP. vi. 



we do the tucks of a child's frock viz. as a provision for 

 growth. The fin-rays of this fish have also been cited in 

 evidence as not being the same in number as those of the 

 herring, but as I can testify, from actual counting, the fin-rays 

 of the latter fish vary considerably, therefore the number of fin- 

 rays is not evidence in the case. The slaughter of sprats which 

 is annually carried on in our seas is, I suspect, as decided a 

 killing of the goose for the sake of the golden eggs as the grilse- 

 slaughter which is annually carried on in our salmon rivers. 



The herring is found under four different conditions : 1st, 

 Fry or sill ; 2d, Maties or fat herring ; 3d, Full herring ; 4th, 

 Shotten or spent herring. All herrings under five or six 

 inches in length come under the first denomination. The 

 matie is the finest condition in which a herring can be used 

 for food purposes ; and if the fishery could be so arranged, 

 that is the time at which it should be caught for consumption. 

 At that period it is very fat, its feeding-power being all de- 

 veloped on its body ; the spawn is small, the growth of the 

 roe or milt not having yet demanded the whole of the nutri- 

 ment taken by the fish. A full herring is one in which the 

 milt or roe is fully developed. The maties develop into 

 spawning herring with great rapidity in the course of three 

 months, it is said. The herrings at the spawning season 

 come together in vast numbers, and proceed to their spawning 

 places in the shallower and consequently warmer parts of the 

 sea. As Gilbert White says, " the two great motives which 

 regulate the brute creation are love and hunger ; the one in- 

 cites them to perpetuate their kind, the latter induces them 

 to preserve individuals." In obedience to these laws the 

 herring congregate on our coast, for there only they find an 

 abundant supply of food to mature with the necessary rapidity 

 their milt and roe, as well as a sea-bottom fitted to receive 

 their spawn ; and they are thus brought within the reach of 

 man at what many persons consider the wrong time of their life. 



