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GREAT BRITAIN. 265 



unbaited hooks at either end. Herrings are such hungry 

 fish that they fly at the naked hooks, and are easily caught 

 in this manner (' Angler's Note Book/ p. 48). The hooks 

 must be kept moving about, and the water should be 

 a little discoloured. 



Along the coasts of Down and Antrim large quantities 

 used to be taken by means of handlines, the hooks 

 being dressed with feathers, and the time of fishing being 

 evening or sunrise (Thompson). 



Off Northumberland and Durham we are told that 

 herrings used only to be fished when in their prime, or 

 from July to September ; now from 100 to 150 large boats 

 come from Scotland every spring, and young herrings are 

 captured from May right on, but they are poor and taste- 

 (G. Rowell, Land and Water, July, 1881). Mr. 

 Southwell, in Norfolk, considers that there can be no two 

 opinions as to the small size and inferior quality of the 

 " spring herrings," and thinks that it is a matter of regret 

 that they should be taken at that season. 



Breeding. The period at which the herring breeds is 

 subject to great diversity, inasmuch that some persons 

 have questioned whether it may not do so twice in one 

 year. At Wick, on the north-east coast of Scotland, 

 Mr. Reid informed me (January i8th, 1882) that early in 

 January this year they were in a spawning condition, but 

 no shotten ones as yet to be found, while they again spawn 

 there in August and early in September. The same has 

 been observed in the Moray Firth by Gordon. Herrings 

 taken on the Ballintrae Bank, off the Ayrshire coast, in 

 February and March, are either spawning or shotten. 

 Herrings spawn on the east coast of England and Scotland 

 (taking the extreme dates), from the latter end of May to 

 December, that is, measuring from the Shetlands to the 



