THE MACKREL, 2^^ 



Genus XL 'fhe Mackrel *, 



X HIS IS one tribe of thofe fiioals of migratory fiflies, which 

 annually vifit our coaft ; and it is perhaps among the 

 moft celebrated of that clafs, both for its numbers and 

 the delicacy of its food. They are gregaiious in their 

 habits ; and while other fillies continue in our vicinity all 

 the year round, and proul along the fliore in fniall num- 

 bers, or folitary, thefe in a compadl band vifit their ac- 

 cuftomed haunts at dated ieafons with fo much regula- 

 rity, that you can pronounce with certainty the time of 

 their appearance. 



What impels the hiackrel and other migratory fifhes to 

 undertake fuch diftant voyages, what diretls their courfe, 

 and what fupports them upon their paflage, are fubjedts 

 on which naturaiifts have indulged in all the licence 

 of conjecture, without being able to form any fatisfaflo- 

 ry determination. Some have imagined, -that we owe 

 the vifits of the whiting, the haddock, and the mackrel, 

 rather to their fears than their appetite ; and that tiiey 

 are driven upon our coaOs in endeavouring to avoid the 

 purfait of their deftroyers. It is, hov\ever, more proba- 

 tale, that they approach the fliore in qiieft of food, which 

 is found in greater plenty there than in the depths of the 

 feaf. 

 Vol. in. G g It 



* Scomba, Rondel. Scomba, Si:omba, Lin. SyH. 

 f Goldfmich's Nat Hift. vol. vi. p. 3*6. 



