164 



SCOMBER! U.fl. 



is again considered rare. Mr. Paget says that several were 

 caught during the summer of 1834 by the Yarmouth fishermen 

 when taking Turbot on the Knowl. The food of the Dory 

 is the fry of other fishes, molluscous animals, and shrimps. 

 The largest specimens that come to the London fish-mar- 

 ket weigh from ten to twelve pounds ; but the average weight 

 is scarcely half as much. Pennant says the largest are from 

 the Bay of Biscay. 



Mr. Couch considers the Dory as " rather a wandering 

 than a migratory fish ; and its motions are chiefly regulated 

 by those of the smaller kinds on which it preys. When 

 the Pilchards approach the shore, the Dory is often taken in 

 considerable numbers. In the autumn of 1829, more than 

 sixty were hauled on shore at once in a net, some of them 

 of large size, and yet the whole were sold together for nine 

 shillings. It continues common until the end of winter ; 

 after which it is more rare, but never scarce. The form 

 of the Dory would seem to render it incapable of much 

 activity ; and it is sometimes seen floating along with the 

 current, rather than swimming ; yet some circumstances favour 

 the idea that it is able to make its way with considerable 

 activity. It keeps pace with schulls of Pilchards, so that 

 some are usually enclosed in the scan with them ; it also 

 devours the common Cuttle, a creature of vigilance and 

 celerity ; and I have seen a Cuttle of a few inches long 

 taken from the stomach of a Dory that measured only four 

 inches. It takes the hook, but gives the preference to a 

 living bait ; and a Chad,* hooked through the back, with the 

 prickly dorsal fin cut off, is sure to entice it." 



" It is now," says Colonel Montagu,^ " about sixty 

 years since the celebrated Mr. Quin, of epicurean notoriety, 



* The young of the Sea Bream, Pagellus centrodontits. 

 t Colonel Montagu died in July 1815. 



