SKATE-BARROWS. 91 



part of the year, it will usually be found to 

 contain the young animal— not a very prepos- 

 sessing creature— -as may be seen by reference 

 to the engraving, where a portion of the egg is 

 represented as removed. Perhaps the reader may 



SKATF, 



remember Hogarth's '^Gate of Calais," where a 

 fisherwoman has upon her knees a huge skate, 

 into whose countenance the painter has wickedly 

 infused an expression precisely like that of the 

 weather-beaten, withered old dame who holds it. 



I was once talking about these eggs to some 

 fishermen, who told me that in the spring they 



