Pilchard
called also the gipsy herring, is a fine fat fish most abundant on the Devonshire and Cornwall coasts; but it is to be found all over the Channel, and on the French coast it goes by the name of sardine. They are large for sardines, but they are treated as such in Devonshire and Cornwall, and are now sold in tins under the name of Cornish sardines. The result is worthy of praise, and ought to be the beginning of a successful industry. It is the first attempt in England to preserve fish in oil. It would be too much to say that they are equal to the best French sardines that was not to be expected in a first experiment; but still they are good, well-flavoured sardines; and when the Cornish men-Tre, Pol and Pen-have thoroughly mastered the art of preserving fish in oil, their fat little pilchards should be known as the finest sardines in the world, and the perfection of preserved herrings. We know little of the pilchard in London, or anywhere far from the Land's End. The fact is, that being the most sublime of herrings, with a richness which raises him 1 Pimento almost to the nobleness of a salmon-trout, the pilchard, with all his fatness, begins to spoil much too soon after he has bidden adieu to his native element; and he is by no means sublime he is even rancid when he reaches the glorious Walhalla of fish in Billingsgate. Whenever a pilchard is found fresh, he is to be cooked as a herring of high degree. His season is between July and Christmas. It is singular, considering the goodness of the pilchard, that he is of no repute when cured, and is not to be named beside the bloater of Yarmouth, the salt herring of the Dutch, or the red herring of Scotland. Probably the larger pilchards, with their salmon-trout flavour, might make a name for themselves in the form of kipper; and there is now every prospect that the smaller pilchards will spread their renown in the guise of Cornish sardines.