210 PHYSOSTOMI. 



they are likewise termed silh-shag. Sgadan, or scattan, Moray Firtt. Small 

 ones not larger than a sprat are termed sills, or sile ; fat herrings 

 destitute of roe, maties, or matties, a corruption of the term, "maiden," 

 or those which have never spawned. Full herrings are those possessing a well- 

 developed milt or roe ; shott en-herrings, or spent fish which having just bred, are 

 very inferior ; it is likewise a term sometimes applied to such as have been gutted 

 and dried for keeping. Green herrings is a term sometimes employed for " fresh 

 herrings." Bed-finned-herrings are known as wine drinlcers in Scotland, and as 

 loaders in Norfolk and Lincolnshire, while in the western counties they are called 

 kings and queens. Overday tarts is applied by costermongers to such as have 

 remained unsalted for over twenty-four hours, and consequently are dark red 

 about their fins and gills, due to extravasated blood. A " blown herring " is 

 termed, according to Halliwell, a tow-hlowen in Suffolk. A gut-poch-herring in 

 Scotland is one which has its stomach distended with small crustaceans, or other 

 food. A red herring, or a hlack herring are trade terms for particular descriptions 

 of cured fish, while the former is also known as a Norfolk capon, and sailors usually 

 designate it as a sodger, or soldier. Bloaters used to be applied to herrings which 

 were smoke-dried but not split open, from " bloat," to dry by smoke : kippered 

 herrings, such as are split and salted. White herring generally implies a fresh 

 herring, but in the north pickled ones are sometimes thus termed. In Scotland the 

 highest brand is given to mazy herrings, or those full of roe ; and what are known 

 as crown-full ; those which have not yet developed ova or milt as matties, such as 

 have spawned as shotten, but which find a ready sale in the great continental 

 markets. Local name of young yawling and Britt ; scuddaivn, Irish. Pennog, 

 yfgaden, Welsh ; De Having, Dutch ; Le Haering, French. At Great Yarmouth 

 4 herrings make 1 warp ; a large basket containing 100 is termed a swill, or lo7ig 

 take, 132 ; a last contains 13,200 fish. A cran in Scotland consists of 37i imperial 

 gallons, and generally contains from 900 to 1000 herrings ; a barrel holds about 

 800 ; a maize, or mease, 600. A cade, or barrel of herrings, appears to have 

 contained 600 in the middle of the 16th century. 



Habits. — The herring is a gregarious, lively fish, a rapid surface swimmer, but 

 somewhat timorous. Whole shoals, it is asserted, maybe scared and turned from 

 the course they had intended to pursue. The wake of these fish is often marked 

 during the day time by long lines of gulls and sea birds hovering above them and 

 occasionally swooping down upon some as prey ; while at night time, especially if 

 very dark, a slight gleam, " brimming," or "flame," is seen on the surface of the 

 sea where the shoals are. But the herring is not always to be found at the 

 surface, for it seeks its food at any depth where it obtains the best supply ; it may 

 even sink down to the bottom, provided such be not too profound, while it is not 

 uncommon both for it and the mackerel to be captured by the beam-trawl. Thus, 

 in the autumn of 1869, more than 1000 large and full herrings were caught off 

 Lowestoft in a beam-trawl net, and in the spring of 1870 upwards of 5000 shotten 

 herrings were similarly taken at the Well Bank off Great Yarmouth, and in 

 March, 1881, a large number of both shotten and full herrings were thus taken 

 on the Brown Bank (De Caui). It has been remarked along our south and 

 south-west coasts that herrings and pilchards do not intermingle. The noise 

 made by herrings when captured is peculiar, and has been likened to various 

 things — to the cry of a mouse, to the word " cheese," a sneeze, or a squeak, and 

 may be occasioned either by the escape of air through the posterior opening of 

 the air-bladder near the vent, or else, as seems more probable, by some movement 

 of the gills and gill-covers.* 



The food upon which herrings subsist has been variously characterized, but is 

 generally held to consist of minute shrimp-like crustaceans, often of forms belong- 

 ing to the same division as the common Cyclops of our fresh waters. It is 

 evident that they exist on very varied forms of animal life, and are probably not 

 particular provided they can obtain sufficient. About the middle of February, 

 1882, 1 found that some from the S.W. coast had been feeding on Annelids; from 



♦ It has been asserted that it is possible to blow air from the stomach into the air-bladder. 



