FISHES AND FISHING. 193 



and very few can read them in the original, and those 

 who can read the printed copy are not numerous ; they 

 have, in some instances, been brought forward, ad 

 vantageously, in support of the rights of the church. 



Perch are a very voracious fish, and afford excellent 

 sport to the angler. The season for perch and pike 

 is from the first- of July till the twenty-eighth of Fe 

 bruary. Angle for the middle sized ones with a 

 worm, and where they run larger, with a minnow, 

 or small gudgeon ; put your hook through just by 

 the back fin, use a cork float. Perch, like the pike, 

 take their prey by the middle, and, in this case, strike 

 as soon as there is a bite ; if the hook be placed in 

 the lip of the bait, give a little time to allow the perch 

 to turn the minnow, and swallow it head first. If 

 you intend to fish with worms, a little while before 

 you begin, throw in balls of clay, in which some 

 worms are embedded, with their tails just protruding, 

 and bait with rich brandlings, smelling very strongly, 

 and exuding a yellow liquid, or red worms with a 

 yellow tail; do not give too much time on having 

 a bite, or the hook must be cut out of the fish's gul 

 let ; if you take one, you are almost certain of several 

 others, of which this is an example. 



A fortunate tradesman, who had retired into 

 the country from the fatigues of business, invited, 

 most press! ugly, a London friend, upon several 



o 



