PILCHARD. 97 



which indeed the Pilchard has been sometimes confounded. 

 To this it will be a sufficient reply, that the Pilchard is 

 never seen in the Northern Ocean, and the few that some- 

 times wander through the Straits of Dover, or the British 

 Channel, have evidently suffered from passing so far out of 

 their accustomed limits. They frequent the French coasts, 

 and are seen on those of Spain ; but on neither in consi- 

 derable numbers, or with much regularity ; so that few 

 fishes confine themselves within such narrow bounds. On 

 the coast of Cornwall they are found through all the seasons 

 of the year, and even there their habits vary in the different 

 months. In January, they keep near the bottom, and are 

 chiefly seen in the stomachs of ravenous fishes ; in March, 

 they sometimes assemble in schulls, and thousands of hogs- 

 heads have in some years been taken in seans : but this union 

 is only partial, and not permanent ; and it is not until July 

 that they regularly and permanently congregate so as to be 

 sought after by the fishermen. 



The sean-fishery commences in August, and continues 

 until the shortened days and stormy weather of the equinox 

 render its further prosecution impracticable ; but the fish 

 continue to appear, sometimes in great numbers, until the 

 conclusion of the year. The season and situation for spawn- 

 ing, and the choice of food, are the chief causes which 

 influence the motions of the great bodies of these fish ; and 

 it is probable that a thorough knowledge of these would 

 explain all the variations which have been noticed in the 

 actions of the Pilchard, in the numerous unsuccessful seasons 

 of the fishery. In some years, at least, a considerable body 

 of Pilchards shed spawn in the month of May — perhaps in 

 the middle of the Channel, Avhere I have known them taken, 

 heavy with roe, in drift-nets shot for Mackerel ; yet it seems 

 certain that they do not breed twice in the year, and that 



