32 HABITS AND APPEARANCE IN THE SEA 



The cause may be, that a certain portion of light and 

 lieat is necessary for spawning, and in such weather 

 they keep on the banks more distant fi'om our shores, 

 and in deeper water than in ordinary seasons. As a 

 proof of this, the Dutch deep-sea fishermen are often suc- 

 cessful in those years when ours are quite the reverse. 

 At Liimfiord (at one time the greatest fishing station in 

 Denmark, but now almost entirely deserted), where the 

 entrance to the fiord or firth is narrow and the water 

 shallow, the herring-fishing often completely failed when 

 the summer light and heat were excessive ; and the expe- 

 rienced fishermen there attributed this failure to that cause. 

 In the Firth of Forth it is sometimes found that the her- 

 rings deposit their spawn on the grounds or banks between 

 a mile or two to the westward of Queensferry and Inch- 

 keith, being an extent of about ten miles ; but many 

 spawned herrings have been caught considerably to the 

 westward of Queensferry, and in ordinary seasons shoals 

 of herrings deposit their spawn on the clayey and rocky 

 bottom between Inchkeith and the island of May. When 

 the weather is clear and dry, in common seasons, the her- 

 rings keep at a distance from the nets, or at the bottom ; 

 but it has been often remarked by fishermen, that when 

 the nets have been in the w^ater for a considerable time 

 at night, and the sky clear, few fishes came into them 

 until the moon rose, when they have been almost instan- 

 taneously filled ; so that, according to the song, 



"The herring loves the merry moonlight." 



On the coast of North America lights are frequently 

 used, which are found of advantage in attracting the her- 

 rings to the nets. We have, however, tried lights at 

 night on board of the open boats fishing herrings during 



