52 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 



The spines of the dorsal fin had been tampered with, and 

 dark stripes painted on the body, which certainly justified 

 the committee in rejecting this exhibit as a fraud. 



A perch of 8 Ib. taken in Dagenham Breach, Essex, and 

 one of 7 Ib. reported from the New Cut between Readham 

 and Herringfleet, both many years ago, may be accounted 

 for as cases of mistaken identity ; as may probably one killed 

 in the Lunan, Forfarshire, in 1894, weighing 5 Ib. 13 oz. 

 The late Frank Buckland vouched for three genuine fresh- 

 water perch, two of 4^ Ib. each, taken respectively in Wroxham 

 Broad and in the Bure ; and the third of 4|- Ib., caught in the 

 reservoir at Daventry. But the three largest specimens which 

 have fallen to the rod of Mr. Jardine, who has probably killed 

 more perch than any other living angler, weighed respectively 

 3i Ib., J-s Ib., and 2 Ib. 15 oz., all taken in the Colne and 

 Loddon. The present writer, although as a boy he killed 

 many hundreds of perch in Scottish waters, never scored one 

 of 3 Ib., although twice he has come within three or four 

 ounces of that weight, and many times has caught perch 

 weighing over 2 Ib. 



Perch are essentially gregarious fish, swimming and seeking 

 their prey in shoals, which are sometimes exceedingly numerous. 

 Usually the members of a shoal are of nearly uniform 

 size, the more numerous the shoal the smaller the fish. 

 It may happen to one idling motionless beside a placid bay of 

 some clear lake to behold a beautiful sight. A multitude of 

 little forms, all striped alike, and about four or five inches long, 

 glide in gently from the deep water over the sand and pebbles, 

 threading their devious way among the stems of water-weeds. 

 Here, half a dozen or so break away in pursuit of some 

 gammarus or swimming larva ; there, a floating fly tempts 

 one of them to dimple the surface in a leisurely fashion, very 

 different from the upward rush and dash of a lake-trout. 

 But these always rejoin the company ; never resting, never 

 rapid, except in pursuit or alarm these little fellows, to the 



