SARDINE. 113 



the sides, which grow faint and disappear as the colours fade. 

 Compared with a Pilchard of the same size I find the marking 

 of the head different; the plate encircling the eye on its lower 

 part and under being much narrower, and guttered on the 

 lower margin, where the Pilchard is plain. These small fish 

 now abound at all distances from land, and in consequence all 

 the fish in fine condition that were found a week or two before 

 have disappeared. 



The Sardine is common on the south coasts of France and 

 Spain, and through the Mediterranean, where it forms the 

 subject of extensive fisheries. They are also imported from 

 thence into Britain; having been deprived of the head, boiled 

 in oil, and inclosed in small tin boxes, which are carefully 

 soldered to exclude the air; and it is worthy of notice, as 

 forming an opposite character from that of the Pilchard, that 

 the Sardine is in its best condition in the spring, and not in 

 the autumn. The Sardine appears to be the only fish of this 

 family, except the Pilchard, that has the dorsal fin at the centre 

 of gravity. 



Captain Cook found it at Nootka Sound, on the west coast 

 of North America, where the natives preserve it by smoking; 

 and I have been informed by sailors that they have obtained 

 what they supposed Pilchards, as also their enemy the Ifake, 

 further to the south along the same coast. 



VOL. IV. 



