BRIEF NOTES ON FISHES. 361 



from their birth-place. For instance, many perch leave 

 the Delaware, and, seeking out suitable localities in the 

 tributaries that have an uninterrupted outlet, deposit 

 their ova in such smaller streams. 



This perch, then, may be said to be a strictly resident 

 species. There is not a month in the year, or week in 

 any month, when they may not be found. Not always 

 are they so evidently abundant as in spring and summer ; 

 but they have not wandered far, and only a little closer 

 search is needed to spy them out. If we go a-fishing 

 only in the river, the impression of the rarity of yellow 

 perch will soon become fixed in the mind ; but this arises 

 not so much from the actual scarcity, as from the fact 

 that they do not bite at a hook as readily as when in the 

 still waters of our ponds. The nets, however, tell the 

 story, and prove that they are in the river, and abundant- 

 ly too, in spite of the firm belief of the line-fisher that 

 " there are no yellow perch in the river." When it comes 

 to comparing perch with sunfish, on the other hand, it is 

 evident that, however abundant relatively they are in any 

 of the neighboring streams, they are far outnumbered by 

 these less desirable percoids. 



What the maximum size of a yellow perch may be is 

 as yet undetermined. I never have seen a monster 

 among them, but my neighbors report a supermonstrous 

 one, and so I leave the question open. I have knowledge 

 of one caught in the Delaware that weighed four pounds 

 and a quarter. This I mentioned once in the fish-market ; 

 but the old gray-beards there sniffed contemptuously, and 

 told marvelous tales of the wonderful size of the perch 

 they had caught. Such fish, however, never get to mar- 

 ket, and the tales need not be repeated. 



The yellow perch appears to be equally at home in 

 very different localities. As a still-water pond fish, if 



