Trin. Coll., Dublin.
_Herrings._--"The lovers of fish" may be glad to learn what a bloater is, a
mystery which I endeavoured to unravel when lately on the Norfolk coast. A
bloater, I was informed, is a large, plump herring (as we say a _bloated_
toad); and the genuine claimants of the title fall by their own weight from
the meshes of the net.
The origin of the simile--"As dead as a herring"--may not be generally
known. This fish dies immediately upon its removal from the native element
(strange to say) from want of air; for swimming near the surface it
requires much, and the gills, when dry, cannot perform their function.