THE SPRAT. 135 



fishery, principally in Cornwall, was 209,840, 

 and of drift-boats and nets, 61,400. The 

 nets are supposed to last about six years, and 

 ought of course to produce their own value 

 within that time, together with an adequate 

 profit ; but it is the complaint of the fishermen 

 that this is not the case. The profit of the men 

 depends on the share of the fish, which is 

 divided into eight parts, of which the boat has 

 one-eighth part, the nets three, and the men 

 four. A boy that accompanies them is re- 

 warded with the fish that may fall into the sea 

 as the nets are drawn, to secure which he is 

 furnished with a bag-net at the end of a rod, 

 termed a keep-net." 



The pilchard much resembles the herring, 

 but is shorter and thicker. It is principally to 

 different ports along the northern shore of the 

 Mediterranean that the cured pilchards are 

 exported. 



Along various parts of our coast, that well- 

 known fish, the sprat, (Clupea sprattus^) is taken 

 during the winter, the fishing season commenc- 

 ing in November. This fish abounds along the 

 shores of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent ; 

 it is comparatively rare along the Cornish 

 coast, but it is very abundant along the southern 

 shores of Devon. Its movements, however, are 



