THE HERRING. 
277 
tliofe of Europe , as far as the north of France ; and on 
the eaft of Afia, they are found on the Chores of Kamf- 
chatha. The great army that annually iffues from the 
north, feparates into feveral divifions : The firft makes 
its appearance off the Shetland ljles in the months of 
April and May ; but thefe are only the harbingers of a 
far more numerous body, that follows in June- The ap- 
pearance of thefe flioals is always announced by the 
gulls, gannefs, and other rapacious birds, that continual- 
ly hover above them ; but when the great body ap- 
proaches, about the beginning of Harveft, its breadth and. 
depth alter the appearance of the ocean, which fparkles 
with various colours, like a bed of precious Hones, by 
reflecting the rays of the fun from the feales and fins. 
When the herrings firft quit the regions of the Frozen 
Sea, they are divided into different columns, of five or 
fix miles in length, by three or four in breadth ; and in 
their progrefs fouthward, the firft obftacle in their way 
is the Shetland IJlands , by which they are feparated into 
two grand divifions ; the one advancing along the whole 
Britijh coa'ft, filling every bay and creek, till it reaches 
the Channel, after which it gradually thins, till it difap- 
pears. The other great wing makes a fimilar circuit 
round the weft coaft, till it reaches the north of Ireland , 
where it is again fubdivided ; part entering the Irifh Sea, 
and part fcattering along the weft Ihores of Ireland, till 
it difappears about the entrance of St. George's Channel. 
Several ftationary fiflieries are eftablilhed on the w r eft 
of Scotland and Ireland ; but the herrings are by no 
means uniform in reforting to the fame loch or bay an- 
nually. They frequent a certain fpace for a number of 
years, and then capricioufly defert it for perhaps as many 
jpore, On the coaft of Wales, and among the Hebrides, 
they 
