^HE UERRING, h'JJ 



thofe of Europe, as far as the north of France ; and on 

 the eaft of AJia, they are found on the fliores of Kamf- 

 chatka. The great army that annually iiTues from the 

 north, feparates into feveral divifions : The firfl makes 

 its appearance ofF the Shetland IJles in the months of 

 April and May ; but thefe are only the harbingers of a 

 far more numerous body, that follows in June. The ap- 

 pearance of thefe flioals is always announced by the 

 gulls, gannefs, and other rapacious birds, that continual- 

 ly hover above them ; but when the great body ap- 

 proaches, about the beginning of Harveft, its breadth and 

 depth alter the appearance of the ocean, which fparkles 

 with various colours, like a bed of precious flones, by 

 refle£ting the rays of the fun from the fcales and fins. 



When the herrings firfl quit the regions of the Frozen 

 Sea, they are divided into different columns, of five or 

 fix miles in length, by three or four in breadth ; and in 

 their progrefs fouthward, the firfl obftacle in their way 

 is the Shetland JJlands, by which they are feparated into 

 two grand divifions ; the one advancing along the whole 

 Britijh coafl, filling every bay and creek, till it reaches 

 the Channel, after which it gradually thins, till it difap- 

 pears. The other great wing makes a limilar circuit 

 round the wefl coafl, till it reaches the north of Ireland^ 

 ■where it is again fubdivided ; part entering the Jr//6 Sea^ 

 and part fcattering along the wefl fhores of Ireland, till 

 it difappears about the entrance of St. George'' s Channel. 

 Several flationary fiflieries are eflablifhed on the weft 

 of Scotland and Ireland; but the herrings are by no 

 means uniform in reforting to the fame loch or bay an- 

 nually. Tliey frequent a certain fpace for a number of 

 years, and then capricioufly defert it for perhaps as many 

 inore. On the coafl of JVales, and among the Hebrides^ 



they 



