FOR THE PERCH. 183 



feet long ; for an honest informer told me, such 

 a one was not long since taken by Sir Abraham 

 Williams, a gentleman of worth and a brother of 

 the angle that yet lives, and I wish he may : this 

 was a deep-bodied fish, and doubtless durst have 

 devoured a pike of half his own length. For I 

 have told you, he is a bold fish ; such a one as, 

 but for extreme hunger, the pike will not devour. 

 For to affright the pike, and save himself, the 

 perch will set up his fins, much like as a turkey 

 cock will sometimes set up his tail. 



But, my scholar, the perch is not only valiant 

 to defend himself, but he is, as I said, a bold 

 biting fish : yet he will not bite at all seasons of 

 the year; he is very abstemious in winter, yet 

 will bite then in the midst of the day, if it be 

 warm : and note, that all fish bite best about the 

 midst of a warm day in winter. And he hath 

 been observed, by some, not usually to bite till 

 the mulberry tree buds ; that is to say, till ex- 

 treme frosts be past the spring; for, when the 

 mulberry tree blossoms, many gardeners observe 

 their forward fruit to be past the danger of 

 frosts ; and some have made the like observations 

 of the perch's biting. 



But bite the perch will, and that very boldly. 



