of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



155 



were put into the sea at distances varying from a mile or two up to 50 

 miles from the shore, and the majority of them in relation to the spawning 

 grounds lying off the Firth of Forth and St Andrew's Bay, and in the 

 Moray Firth. The time that elapsed between dropping them into the 

 sea and their recovery varied from one to 239 days, and the distance 

 travelled from two to 494 miles, measured in a straight line between the 

 two points. Five were picked up on the coast of Norway and 33 on 

 the English coast. Three of the former were put into the sea on 

 November 5th, 8 miles south-east of Buchan Ness, Aberdeenshire, 

 and were found on the Norwegian coast in 29, 43, and 52 days 

 thereafter, having respectively travelled 270, 490, and 494 miles in 

 the periods named. The fourth was put away 10 miles south-east of 

 Girdleness on 6th November, and was found near Christiansund, Norway, 

 470 miles distant, 52 days afterwards ; and the fifth was put in on 7th 

 November 10 miles south-east of Bervie, and was found north of 

 Bergen on 1st January. These bottles appear to have been drifted in a 

 north-easterly direction, until they reached the currents passing from the 

 Atlantic north of Scotland towards the coast of Norway, as shown in the 

 Prince of Monaco's chart above referred tc. 



Excluding these examples, it will be found that the other cases fall 

 into two groups, one in which the direction taken varied with the tidal 

 streams and the winds within the Firth of Forth and the Moray Firth, 

 close to the shores, and another group in which they moved, usually at 

 some distance from the coast, steadily in a south-south-east direction, 

 which brought them to the shore, often 100 or even over 200 miles south 

 of the point where they were placed in the sea. If a chart showing the 

 eastern boundary of the North sea — the coasts of Scotland and England — 

 be examined, it will be seen that in the northern portion, the region of 

 the Moray Firth, the coast (Caithness, Sutherland) tends westward and 

 then passes abruptly eastwards (Elginshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire), 

 the coastline facing north ; thereafter it passes westwards to the Firth of 

 Forth, and south of the Firth of Forth it bends gradually eastwards to the 

 region of the Wash, which is as far as the area of the experiments goes. 

 Setting aside in the meantime the results relating to the inshore movements, 

 the experiments show that a general current passes down the east coast 

 of Scotland and England from Duncansby Head to the Wash. The 

 course of this current seems to be confined to the neighbourhood of the 

 coast, and to be modified somewhat by the coastline, and also — so far at 

 least as the surface waters are concerned — by the prevailing winds. It 

 will be convenient to consider two portions of the east coast of Scotland 

 separately, the Moray Firth and the region south of it. Nineteen drift- 

 bottles were put away in March at from ten to twenty miles from the 

 Shetlands, but no intimation of th^ recovery of any of these has yet been 

 received ; probably they have been carried by the Atlantic currents in a 

 north-easterly direction towards the northern parts of Norway. In the 

 region of the Moray Firth, 310 drift bottles were put into the sea in 

 October, January, February and March, at distances varying from t« o miles 

 to fifty-five miles from shore ; and of these 64 have been recovered. They 

 fall into two groups in regard to the direction taken, one group in the 

 area to the west of a line between Lossiemouth and Wick and the 

 other to the eastward of that line. All the latter move i in a definite 

 southerly direction,* S.S.W., S. by W., S. and S.S.E., and sometimes with 

 considerable rapidity. For instance, all the bottles put in at Smith Bank 

 and neighbourhood which were again recovered (nineteen in number) were 

 found on the coast of Banffshire and Aberdeenshire, along a stretch of 

 about thirty-five miles between Buckie and Fraserburgh, most of them 

 * The direction in all cases is given as magnetic. 



