CHAP, vi.] FOOD OF THE HERRING. 243 



the greatest and severest of our fish-destroying agencies. We 

 give our grouse a breathing space ; nay, we sometimes afford 

 to that bird a whole jubilee year ; we do not shoot our hares 

 during certain months of the year, nor do we select their 

 breeding season as the proper time to kill our oxen or our 

 sheep ; but we do not at dinner-time object to an entree com- 

 posed of cod-roe, and we evidently rather believe in the pro- 

 priety of killing only our seed-laden herrings ! This lavish 

 destruction of fish-life has arisen in great part from the well- 

 known fecundity of all kinds of sea-fish, some of which yield 

 their eggs by the million, and this has given rise to the idea 

 that it is impossible to exhaust the shoals. But when it is 

 considered that this wonderful fecundity is met by an unparal- 

 leled destruction of the seed and also of the young fish, we 

 need not be astonished at the ever-recurring complaint of 

 scarcity. A recent, but no doubt exaggerated complaint, sets 

 forth that the beam -trawl is one of the most destructive 

 engines employed in the sea, five hundred tons of spawn being 

 said to be destroyed by the trawlers in twenty-four hours. 

 It is well known also that tons of broken fish and spawn are 

 sold in the south as manure for the land at threepence per 

 bushel ! There can be no doubt that there is annually an 

 enormous waste of fish-life, through the accidental destruction 

 of very large quantities of spawn, herring-spawn as well as all 

 other kinds. 



As to the food of the herring, the report already alluded 

 to tells us that it " consists of Crustacea, varying in size from 

 microscopic dimensions to those of a shrimp, and of small fish, 

 particularly sandeels. "While in the matie condition, they feed 

 voraciously, and not unfrequently their stomachs are found 

 immensely distended with Crustacea and sandeels, in a more 

 or less digested condition." I have personally examined the 

 stomachs of many herrings, and have found in them the re- 

 mains of all kinds of food procurable in the place frequented 



