5 8 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 



feels when the hounds run into a fox that a valuable prize has 

 been secured. The killing is an incident, more or less disagree- 

 able ; and it may safely be said that, were the flesh of pheasants 

 and grouse no more palatable and nutritious than that of a fox, 

 the inducement to make big bags would cease. Were mere 

 killing for the sake of killing the motive of sport, what would 

 become more popular than rat-hunting ? The perch, therefore, 

 has this merit above other fish in the angler's esteem, that it is 

 really excellent on the table. Cooks dislike the perch, perhaps, 

 because it is a troublesome fish to prepare, having rough scales 

 which must be scraped off, as a preliminary to most methods of 

 cooking ; but speaking as one who is exempt from that irksome 

 task, and whose function it is to pronounce upon fish as a dish, 

 I give the palm to the perch among British fresh-water fish, 

 always excepting the salmon. There be many who will 

 deem this an unmerited slight upon the trout. Well, it is 

 a matter of taste ; personally I prefer perch, unless it be very 

 small Scottish burn-trout, whereof I lately devoured five at a 

 sitting and wished for more. Clean, firm, and white, destitute 

 of that insidious earthy flavour to which fresh-water fish are so 

 prone, the flesh of a well-nourished perch taken in pure water 

 any time between the middle of June and the end of February 

 is equal to all but the best of haddocks. 



We Britishers are a spoilt race : we ransack the earth for 

 our ordinary food, as well as for delicacies ; but we are wont 

 to neglect the abundance at our doors. Given our climate and 

 fresh-water area, in almost any continental country the rearing, 

 fattening, and capture of perch for the market would be a 

 regular industry ; but in these islands we never trouble our 

 heads about them. I happen to live on the shores of a 

 wide, shallow bay, a kind of backwater of the strong tides 

 in St. George's Channel. Into this quiet retreat shoals of cod 

 drop back after spawning, and thousands are caught and sold 

 soft, watery, insipid creatures. By the time they are getting 

 to be worth attention they are ofF into the strong water again. 



