AUG. DEAL-FISH WOODCOCKS. 271 



brought to me during the month of August by the 

 fishermen. It is called the "Deal fish," or, locally, 

 the " Saw-fish." The latter name is very expres- 

 sive of its shape and proportions, the fish being flat 

 vertically instead of, like a sole or flounder, hori- 

 zontally. The follomng is the description of the 

 fish which I set down at the time : — 



Length, 3 feet 6 inches. 



Depth, 7 inches. 



Greatest thickness, between half and three quarters of an inch. 



Colour, bright silver, with one very thin crimson fin running 



the whole length of its back. 

 The tail very transparent, fan-shaped, and of a bright crimson. 

 A large flat eye ; 

 And a small mouth, which the fish had a peculiar power of 



elongating to a considerable extent. 



It had managed to get hooked through the back, 

 by a common haddock-hook. I wished to have pre- 

 served the skin, as I believe that there are not 

 above one or two perfect specimens extant; but, 

 unluckily, through a mistake the fish was destroyed. 



August ith. — We caught a young woodcock full 

 grown in one of the woods near here. A dog dis- 

 turbed it in the cover ; and it flew fluttering into 

 the road, where it allowed itself to be caught by the 

 hand, although it was quite as large as an old bird, 

 and its wings apparently fully feathered. 



The woodcock breeds every season in the north 



