herring. 
194 
not a troop of stragglers who rove about at random, 
but a regular army, whose tour is prescribed, and 
whose march is yearly regulated with the utmost 
exactness. The whole body begin their departure 
at the same time ; none are permitted to straggle 
out of their proper track ; none among them desert ; 
but all continue their progress from coast to coast, 
till the appointed period. 1 hey are exceedingly 
numerous, and the voyage is long ; and when the 
body of the army is passed, they are all gone, and 
return no more till the next year. It is supposed 
that the herrings make their annual migrations in 
pursuit of food. Our fishermen, as well as those of 
Holland, have observed, that the channel every 
year teems with an innumerable multitude of worms 
and little insects, on which the herrings feed. They 
are a kind of manna, which these creatures come 
punctually to gather up ; and when they have en- 
tirely cleared the seas in the northern parts of Eu- 
rope, during summer and autumn, they descend 
towards the south, where they are invited by a new 
stock of provisions. 
Multitudes of these creatures take up their winter 
quarters within the arctic circle. In those inacces- 
sible seas, that are covered with ice for a great part 
of the year, they find a quiet and sure retreat from 
all their numerous enemies, and abundance of insect 
food for their subsistence. Anderson even supposes 
that they would never depart from hence if their 
numbers did not make it necessary for them to mi- 
