SARDINE. 
113 
the sides, which grow faint and disappear as the colours fade. 
Compared with a Pilchard of the same size I find the marking 
of the head different; the plate encircling the eye on its lower 
part and under being much narrower, and guttered on the 
lower margin, where the Pilchard is plain. These small fish 
now abound at all distances from land, and in consequence all 
the fish in fine condition that were found a week or two before 
have disappeared. 
The Sardine is common on the south coasts of France and 
Spain, and through the Mediterranean, where it forms the 
subject of extensive fisheries. They are also imported from 
thence into Britain; having been deprived of the head, boiled 
in oil, and inclosed in small tin boxes, which are carefully 
soldered to exclude the air; and it is worthy of notice, as 
forming an opposite character from that of the Pilchard, that 
the Sardine is in its best condition in the spring, and not in 
the autumn. The Sardine appears to be the only fish of this 
family, except the Pilchard, that has the dorsal fin at the centre 
of gravity. 
Captain Cook found it at Nootka Sound, on the west coast 
of North America, where the natives preserve it by smoking; 
and I have been informed by sailors that they have obtained 
what they supposed Pilchards, as also their enemy the Hake, 
further to the south along the same coast. 
TOL. IV. 
Q 
