420 THE LING AND HAKE. 



coast, in the months of January and February ; bu:, in Holland and 



England, durir.g the summer 

 season. They sometimes ap- 

 proach the English coasts in such 

 numbers, that their shoals have 

 been known -occasionally to ex- 

 tend three or four miles in length, 

 and upwards of a mile in breadth. 

 They are sometimes caught by 

 means of nets, but lines are gene- 

 rally preferred. Where a fishery is well conducted, these lines are of 

 immense length, and furnished with as many as from a hundred and 

 fifty to two hundred hooks. One vessel will put out twentv of these 

 lines, having in the whole nearly four thousand hooks. Whitings 

 pursue the shoals of llerrings with great eagerness; they are, conse 

 quently, often caught in the Herring-nets. 



After the Herring, the Pilchard, and the Cod, the Ling may, in 



a commercial view, be 

 considered as the most 

 important of all fish. 

 Nine hundred thousand 

 pounds weight of Ling 

 are annually exported 

 from Norway. In En- 

 gland these fish are 

 caught and cured in 

 somewhat the same manner as Cod. Those which are caught off the 

 shores of America, are by no means so much esteemed as those which 

 frequent the coasts of Great Britain and Norway. 



They are in season from February till about the end of May. 

 During this time the liver is white, and yields a great quantity of 

 fine and well-flavored oil. A kind of isinglass is made from the air- 

 bladders. The tongues are eaten either fresh, dried, or salted. 



Hake are found in the Mediterranean, in the British Channel, and 

 in the North Sea. On some of the shores of Ireland, particularly 

 those of Galway and Waterford, they are very abundant. They aro 

 also caught in vast quantities near Penzance in Cornwall, and on 

 some parts of the coast of Devonshire. 



There are few animals more voracious than these. They pursue. 

 with great eagerness, the shoals of Herrings and Mackerel ; and, when 

 other prey is not easily had, they attack and devour even their own 

 species. The Burbot is of the same family. It weighs about two pounds 

 on an average, and its flesh is excellent ; the largest specimens run to 

 seven or eight pounds weight. It is fond of lurking in holes, or under 

 large stones where it watches for its prey. Its general colour is yellowish 

 brown, marbled with a darker tint, and its surface is slimy. It lias been 



