GREA T BRITAIN. 25 1 



if very dark, a slight gleam, "brimming" or "flame," is 

 seen on the surface of the sea where the shoals are. But 

 the herring is not always to be found at the surface, but 

 seeks its food at any depth where it obtains the best 

 supply ; it may even sink down to the bottom, provided 

 such be not too profound, still it is not uncommon both 

 for it and the mackerel to be captured by the beam-trawl. 

 Thus in the autumn of 1859 more than 1000 large and full 

 herrings were caught off Lowestoft in a trawl-net, and in 

 the spring of 1870 upwards of 5000 shotten herrings were 

 similarly taken at the Well Bank off Great Yarmouth ; and 

 in March, 1881, a large number of both shotten and full 

 herrings were taken on the Brown Bank (De Caux). It 

 has been remarked along our south and south-west coasts 

 t herrings and pilchards do not intermingle. 



The noise made by herrings when captured is peculiar, 

 ,nd has been likened to various things : to the cry of a 

 mouse, to the word " cheese," a sneeze, or a squeak, and 

 may be occasioned either by the escape of air through the 

 posterior opening of the air-bladder near the vent, or else 

 by some movement of the gills and gill-covers.* 



The food upon which herrings subsist has been variously 

 characterized, but generally held to consist of minute 

 shrimp-like crustaceans, often of forms belonging to the 

 same division as the common Cyclops of our fresh waters. 

 It is very evident that they exist on very varied forms of 

 animal life, and are probably not particular provided they 

 can obtain sufficient. About the middle of February, 1882, 

 I found that some from the south-west coast had been 

 feeding on Annelids ; from the same locality, in the middle 

 of May, their stomachs were crammed with sand-launces, 



* It has been asserted that it is possible to blow air from the 

 stomach into the air-bladder. 



has 



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and 



