Class IV. COMMON HERRING. 449 



on their own fry. The herring will rise to a 

 fly. Mr. Low, of Birsa in the Orknies, assures 

 me, that he has caught many thousands with a 

 common trout fly, in a deep hole in a rivulet, 

 into which the tide flows. He commonly went 

 at the fall of the tide. They were young fish, 

 from six to eis;ht inches in length. 



They are in full roe the end of June, and con- 

 tinue in perfection till the beginning of winter, 

 when they begin to deposit their spawn. The 

 young herrings begin to approach the shores in 

 July and August, and are then from half an 

 inch to two inches long : those in Yorkshire are 

 called Herring Site* Though we have no Return. 

 particular authority for it, yet as very few- 

 young herrings are found in our seas during 

 winter, it seems most certain that they must 

 return to their parental haunts beneath the ice, 

 to repair the vast destruction of their race dur- 

 ing summer, by men, fowl, and fish. Some of 

 the old herrings continue on our coasts the 

 whole year: the Scarborough fishermen never 

 put down their nets but they catch a few ; still 

 the numbers that remain are not worthy of 



* The Suedes and Danes call the old herring Sill; but the 

 people of Slesiciclc, from whence the Anglo-Saxons came, call 

 the fry Sylcn. 



VOL. III. 2 G 



