GREA T BRITAIN. 285 



but times that'll be right alive with 'em, and then there's 

 certain to be a sight of fish." Lowe, in his tour through 

 the Orkneys (1774), says that as much as .50 was paid 

 for the first barrel of herrings of the season that arrived 

 from Shetland, this first instalment of the herring market 

 being regarded there as medicine. Red-finned ones appear 

 to be considered as omens of success on some parts of our 

 coasts, and Mr. De Caux tells us that as soon as one is 

 perceived it is taken from the net, carefully prevented from 

 touching anything made of wood, and passed round the 

 scudding-poles as many times as the fishermen desire to 

 get lasts of herring at their next haul. 



Habitat. White Sea, extending into some parts of the 

 Arctic Ocean ; the colder to the temperate portions of the 



tlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic. 



In the Orkneys, Lowe observed that the Shetland 

 Isles swarm with them in April and later, the east coast 

 of Caithness in August, the Hebrides at the latter end of 

 the year. The Sounds at certain seasons are alive with 

 the fry. I have already alluded to their distribution along 

 Scotland, the west coast of which country is studded with 

 lochs from which they, have commenced more or less to 

 absent themselves, while along the east coast, possessing 

 but three large bays or firths, they have latterly forsaken 

 their haunts about 7 miles out to sea and receded to 20, 

 30, or even 100 miles. I have also alluded to the distribu- 

 tion of the herring on the British coast, while it is common 

 around Ireland. 



The size to which herrings attain varies. De Caux 

 observes that the largest he has personally seen was 154- 

 inches in length, but that Mr. Utting, of Great Yarmouth, 

 had one which was 17 inches long, but the usual average 





