Pilchards Crying for More

PILCHARDS CRYING FOR MORE

WHEN there is a large catch of fish (pilchards), they are preserved,--put in bulk, as the phrase is,--by being rubbed with salt, and placed in regular order, one on the other, head and tails alternately, forming regular walls of fish.

The fish often, when so placed, make a squeaking noise; this is called "crying for more," and is regarded as a most favourable sign. More fish may soon be expected to be brought to the same cellar.

The noise which is heard is really produced by the bursting of the air-bladders; and when many break together, which, when hundreds of thousands are piled in a mass, is not unusual, the sound is a loud one.