* * * * *
MACKEREL.
When red mullet are abundant in fishmongers' shops, a fine mackerel
season may be expected. The early mackerel are frequently attended by
a few mullet; and whenever they nearly, if not altogether, equal the
mackerel in number, the circumstance is generally the presage of the
approach of great shoals of mackerel.
* * * * *
The course of herrings and mackerel is traced by their eggs, which,
during a calm, may be seen floating on the surface of the water, like
saw-dust, amidst an appearance like the wake or track of a vessel.
* * * * *
SPRATS AND WHITE BAIT.
Mr. Yarrell has recently shown that the sprat is not the young of the
herring and pilchard, as has been generally supposed. One of the most
material differences is, that the vertebrae in the sprat are forty-eight
in number, while in the herring there are fifty-six. The same gentleman
has also proved that _white bait_ are not the young of the shad, or
mother of herrings; but that they are a well-marked and distinct
species.
* * * * *
WHISKY.
It is a curious fact, that until the legal distillation of whisky was
prohibited in the Highlands, it was never drunk at gentlemen's tables.
"Mountain dew," and such poetic names, are of modern invention, since
this liquor became fashionable.
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