PILCHARD. 93 



miles' distance from the land. The largest black 

 sea bream ever known was twenty inches in lengrth. 



THE PILCHARD. 



Clupea Pilchardus, or Pilcardus. 

 Also known as Gipsy Herring in Scotland. 



This is at one and the same time one of the 

 most delicate and valuable of the finny tribe. It 

 is never seen in the Northern Ocean, but is some- 

 times taken on the coasts of France and Spain. 

 The chief fishing stations for pilchards are on the 

 Devon and Cornish coasts and the south-west of 

 Ireland, where they are usually found through 

 the year, but even here their habits differ very 

 much in each month and season. In January 

 they keep near the bottom, being found in the 

 stomachs of numerous ground fish. In March 

 they sometimes assemble in shoals, and thousands 

 of hogsheads are sometimes taken in scans, but 

 it is not until July that they regularly congregate 



