182 THE PILCHARD HEEEING. 



Their food is small crnstaceous animals, as their stomachs are' 

 frequently crammed with a smaU kind of shrimp, and the 

 supply of this kind of food is thought to be enormous. When 

 on the coast, the assemblage of pilchards assumes an arrange- 

 ment like that of a great army, and the vast shoal is known to 

 be made up by the coming together of smaller bodies of that 

 fish, and these frequently separate and rejoin, and are constantly 

 shifting their position. The pilchard is not now so numerous 

 as it was a few years ago, but very large hauls are stiU 

 occasionally obtained. 



Great excitement prevails on the coast of (Cornwall during 

 the pilchard season. Persons watch the water from the coast, 

 and signal to those who are in search of the fish the moment 

 they perceive indications of a shoal. These watchers are 

 locally called " huers," and they are provided with signals of 

 white calico or branches of trees, with which to direct the 

 course of the boat, and to inform those in charge when they 

 are upon the fish — ^the shoal being best seen from the cliffs. 

 The pilchards are captured by the seine-net — that is, the shoal, 

 or spot of a shoal, that has risen, is completely surrounded by 

 a wall of netting, the principal boat and its satellites the volyer 

 and the lurker, with the "stop-nets," having so worked as 

 quite to overlap each other's wall of canvas. The place where 

 the joining of the two nets is formed is carefully watched, to 

 see that none of the fish escape at that place, and if it be too 

 open, the fish are beaten back with the oars of some of the 

 persons attending^ — about eighteen in all In due time the 

 seine is worked or hauled into shallow water for the convenience 

 of getting out the fish, and it may perhaps contain pilchards 

 sufficient to fill two thousand hogsheads. Generally speaking, 

 four or five seines wiU be at work together, giving employment 

 to a great number of the people, who may have been watching 

 for the chance during many days. When the tide falls the 

 men commence to bring ashore the fish, a tuck-net worked 

 inside of the seine being used for safety ; and the large shallow 

 dipper boats required for bringing the fish to the beach may be 

 seen sunk to the water's edge with their burden, as successive 

 bucketfuls are taken out of the nets and emptied into these 

 conveyance vessels. To give the reader an idea of quantity, 

 as connected with pilchard-fishing, I may state that it takes 

 nearly three thousand fish to fill a hogshead. I have heard of 

 a shoal being captured that took a fortnight to bring ashore. 



