THE PERCH. 51 



1845, one was caught near St. Omer which was embedded 

 in a lump of ice, and must have weighed five or six 

 pounds. The frost had surprised him in some shallow 

 place, and had literally frozen him up. The angler, 

 however, must deem himself universally fortunate who 

 succeeds in killing perch, whose average weight shall 

 reach a pound and a half, or even a pound. Excellent 

 sport is to be obtained with fish much below that weight; 

 for, as he is a fearless dashing fellow, he will always afford 

 the angler more amusement than any other fish twice his 

 size, with the exception of the trout and the salmon, whose 

 magnificent leaps and rushes, none who have ever ex- 

 perienced them can possibly forget. 



The perch frequents deep weedy holes, the stone 

 walls about locks and mills, reedy streams, where the 

 water passes freely, and invariably those places where there 

 is a constant or frequent rapid fall of water. If you can 

 keep your line down, the stronger the stream in which 

 you angle for perch the better; but more will be said on 

 this matter in another place. 



Perch are to be met with almost everywhere. There 



/ 



is scarcely a river in England, adapted to his nature and 

 habits, in which he cannot be found. The lakes in the 

 north of England are full of these fish ; and private ponds 

 in which pike are preserved generally abound with them, 

 as the jack will not eat the perch unless urged by 

 extremity of hunger; and then he seldom recovers the 

 effect of the perch's sharp and penetrating dorsal fin. 



The flesh of the perch was deemed salubrious by the 

 old mediciners, and they were accustomed to prescribe 

 two little round bones in his head, to be dissolved, and 

 taken as a remedy for the " stone." There are various 

 modes of cooking the perch. The best way with which 



