DRIFT-NET FISHING. 65 



from, producing the summer or autumn, and winter 

 fisheries. In some districts the winter herrings are 

 not observed ; in others, they are seen but not fished 

 for, as the bad weather at that time often interferes 

 materially with systematic work, or other and more 

 profitable fisheries may claim the attention of the 

 fishermen. In other places, again, the winter fishery 

 is the only one in the district. 



-The great herring harvest is almost everywhere 

 gathered in during the second half of the year. From 

 the Shetlands, by the east coast of Scotland, almost 

 down to the Humber, the herring fishery takes place 

 from July to September. It is rather later, however, 

 about Flamborough Head, and the home fishery at 

 Yarmouth and Lowestoft is from September to the 

 end of November. In the Channel the general fishery 

 is still later, although small fat herrings are often 

 taken by the Hastings boats during the mackerel 

 season in June. At Eamsgate, October and November 

 are the regular months ; but in the west, the fishery 

 takes place quite in the last part of the year, and in 

 the more distant parts, even in January or the begin- 

 ning of February, running into the period when the 

 winter fishery, as distinct from the autumn one, is 

 carried on along both coasts of Scotland. It might 

 be supposed that as the herrings appear on our ex- 

 treme northern coasts at the beginning of the general 

 fishing season, and are gradually later as we proceed 

 south, there was some foundation for the old theory of 

 migration, and that the fish caught in the Channel in 

 December are the remains of the shoals which were 



