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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.  It is altogether of modern introduction into the Highlands; the name being only mentioned in modern ballads.

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ANNUALS FOR 1830.

The Second SUPPLEMENT, containing Choice Extracts from the “Keepsake,” “Forget-me-not,” &c., with a fine Large Engraving from the “Landscape Annual,” will be published with our next number.

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LIMBIRD’S EDITIONS.

CHEAP and POPULAR WORKS published at the MIRROR OFFICE in the Strand, near Somerset House.

The ARABIAN NIGHTS’ ENTERTAINMENTS, Embellished with nearly 150 Engravings.  In 6 Parts, 1s. each.

The TALES of the GENII. 4 Parts, 6d. each.

The MICROCOSM.  By the Right Hon. G. CANNING. &c. 4 Parts, 6d each.

PLUTARCH’S LIVES, with Fifty Portraits, 12 Parts, 1s each.

COWPER’S POEMS with 12 Engravings, 12 Numbers, 3d. each.

COOK’S VOYAGES, 28 Numbers, 3d. each.

The CABINET of CURIOSITIES:  or, WONDERS of the WORLD DISPLAYED 27 Nos. 2d. each.

BEAUTIES of SCOTT. 36 Numbers, 3d. each.

The ARCANA of SCIENCE for 1828.  Price 4s. 6d.

GOLDSMITH’S ESSAYS.  Price 8d.

DR. FRANKLIN’S ESSAYS.  Price 1s. 2d.