PERCHES. 65 



exposure, as to be returned to the water, where 

 they soon recover. 



O'Gorman describes the Perch as fond of 

 noise, and as even sensible to the charms of 

 music. One of his sons assured him that he 

 had once seen a vast shoal of Perch appear 

 at the surface, attracted by the sound of the 

 bag-pipes of a Scotch regiment, that happened 

 to be passing over a neighbouring bridge, and 

 that they remained until the sounds died away 

 in the distance.* 



The Perch is a bold and fearless fish, and not 

 a little destructive: small fry of all kinds are 

 greedily devoured by him ; he roots up the 

 spawn-beds to feed on the deposited ova; small 

 Roach and Trout are destroyed by him in great 

 numbers, and even Trout of considerable size 

 are often driven from their feeding-places near 

 shore by this beautiful but tyrannical spinous- 

 finned fish. 



In the beautiful lake of Geneva the Perch is 

 said to be subject to a singular accident. In the 

 winter these fishes ordinarily remain at a con- 

 siderable depth, where, from the superincumbent 

 weight of so great a body of water, the air con- 

 tained within the swim-bladder is much compressed. 

 If now from any impulse a fish suddenly rises 

 to the surface, the pressure being removed, the 

 air forcibly expands, and not being able to find 

 any outlet, the membranous bladder becomes 

 greatly distended, sometimes to sucK a degree 

 that it is forced out at the mouth of the fish, 

 dragging the stomach, turned inside out, with 

 it. In this sad condition, unable to sink, the 



* Practice of Angling, ii. 2. 



F 



