THE COD. 
181 
°^er it : The halt ufed is herring, a fmall fifli called ca- 
pelin, a {hell fifli, and bits of fea fowl. The natural food 
°f the cod is fmall fifh, teftaceous animals, fuoh as crabs 
a nd whelks ; and their digeftive powers are fo ftrong, that 
they diffolve every fubftance which a voracity almoft: in- 
diferiminate, leads them to devour. Their fight is pro- 
bably very imperfecl ; for almoft every fmall body that 
1S agitated by the water, attra&s their rapacity, Hones 
*nd pebbles not excepted, for thefe are often found ia 
*beir ftomachs. 
The founds of the cod filh, are reckoned a great deli— 
Cac y, and frequently brought from Newfoundland, falted 
U P by themfelves : They are employed by the fifliermen 
°f Iceland, in making ifinglafs } are obtained, by care- 
fully feparating them from the back-bone, to which they 
a dhere after the filh is cut up *, 
The general weight of the cod fifh on the Britijh coafis 
13 from fourteen to forty pounds ; forne have indeed been 
Ca Ught near eighty, but thofe of the middle fiz.e are mod 
e fteemed for the table. Their time of fpawning is from 
January to April, when they depofit their eggs in rough 
r °cky ground. After having been exonerated of a load 
c °ntaining frequently three millions of young, the parent 
Covers its plumpnefs fooner than almoft any other fifli ; 
atl d is caught in good condition, during almoft the whole 
^turner. 
Schonfeldt remarks a kind appointment of providence 
ln [ he immenfe fecundity of this fifh, and in that abun- 
'W fupply which it affords to the inhabitants of thofe 
bleak 
pll ‘l. Trapf, 1773, 
| fU' Schot). apud WUlough. paps lU. 
