1646 Fishes. 



entrance to the St. George's Channel, and to the south and at the 

 entrance to the English Channel. This I have had repeatedly con- 

 firmed by the masters of the vessels employed in the Welch coal-trade. 

 Some of the fishing boats, which returned from Ireland in the second 

 week of July, in 1846, found the shoals small, and much to the south 

 of their usual position, but they were going in a northerly direction ; 

 those boats, however, which returned at their usual time, the first week 

 in August, found them on the same spot, and in the same sized schulls 

 as in former years, but with a southerly course. As this evidence is 

 confirmed year after year, it may safely be supposed, that early in 

 spring and summer they retire into deep water, and gradually congre- 

 gate at the entrance to the English and St. George's Channels, till the 

 period of their migrations towards the land. While this may be re- 

 marked on the great bulk of the summer fish, yet there is good reason 

 to believe all do not retire so far to the west, for good catches are 

 sometimes made in June and July, to the south-west of Mount's Bay, 

 and to the south of the Lizard. But as you advance eastward they 

 become more and more scarce. About Mevagissey, Fowey, Polperro 

 and Looe, catches are made in June and July, but it is not till August 

 and September that the great catches are expected, and then the boats 

 go west to meet the shoals as they advance eastward. 



The chief resort of the pilchard, therefore, so far as I have yet as- 

 certained, during the period of its congregating, is to the west of the 

 Scilly Islands, extending to the north, and occasionally the circum- 

 ference of the shoals extends to near the Welch and Irish shores, and 

 eastward, along the western shores of Cornwall, in deep water. But 

 the united testimony of all our men engaged in the Irish herring fish- 

 ery, is, that they never saw a pilchard to the north of the Small's light- 

 house on the Welch shores, or of a line extending from that spot to 

 Waterford, in Ireland. As they are engaged in the herring fishery, 

 and that is carried on in precisely the same manner as the drift-net 

 fishery for the pilchard, their never having taken one pilchard to the 

 north of that line is worthy of especial notice. A better test of their 

 presence could not be devised, as the same nets are used in many in- 

 stances on both occasions. Further observations, however, are re- 

 quired before this can be assigned as their northern limit ; they may 

 wander further after the boats have left the shores, for at that time 

 their course is frequently in that direction. One thing, however, is 

 certain, that they cannot go much beyond it, as the period of their 

 appearance on the Cornish shores takes place within a fortnight from 

 that time. To the south of this line, their chief resort is on the 



