OF GREAT BRITAIN. 89 



are stated to have been caught, the one in the 

 Wiltshire Avon, and the other in Dagenham 

 Reach, Essex. One is recorded by Izaak Walton 

 as having been taken by a friend, which measured 

 two feet in length ; and in the " Sure Angler's 

 Guide," the author says that he saw the figure of 

 a Perch drawn in pencil on the door of a house 

 near Oxford, which was twenty-nine inches long, 

 and he was informed that it was the outline of a 

 living fish. 



It is not probable, however, that either of these 

 sizes represents the maximum attainable by the 

 Perch under favourable circumstances, even in 

 British waters ; and it probably reaches a much 

 greater weight in Scandinavia and other northern 

 countries. The Danube breeds enormous Perch ; 

 and in the Church of Lulea, Lapland, the head of 

 one is preserved which is nearly a foot long - 

 giving the entire length of the fish at somewhere 

 about 3^ feet. 



After the Pike, the Perch is the most absolutely 

 fearless of our sporting fish, often following a bait 

 up to the very surface of the water or side of the 

 boat, when with jaws open and spines erect he 

 presents a really splendid appearance. He will 

 often remain thus for several instants bristling like 

 a porcupine, as if threatening reprisals on those 

 who have baulked him of his prey retiring at 

 length in sullen wrath with his face still turned 

 towards his assailants. 



