10 SPOKT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



it had swallowed just before the batrachian, for it 

 was as fresh as if it had just been taken from the 

 Hudson. We ate the perch and divided the cat fish, 

 which made capital stews. 



The white perch * which I have just mentioned, is 

 one of the best fishes of the North American rivers 

 and lakes. To fish for it is one of the favourite 

 sports of the urban anglers, who go to celebrate their 

 Sundays far away from the towns, to escape from the 

 dilemma of being forced to go to church or be 

 pointed at by the finger of scorn. On fine Sundays, 

 the banks of the Hudson, about ten miles from New 

 York, are lined with anglers come to enjoy the plea- 

 sures of a day's perch-fishing. 



Watch them carefully. There is not a breath of 

 air to cause a ripple on the stream ; the air is clear, 

 and the water is troubled neither by waves nor by 

 fish-frightening steamboat. Every fisherman has 

 with him a basket containing some crabs or cray 

 fish, the favourite bait for " the grumblers." The 



* This fish is called by some fishermen the "grumbler," from the 

 noise which it makes in water under the bottom of a boat, — a kind of 

 hoarse murmur, which sounds like a growl. This grumbling pecu- 

 liarity is very odd. If you make the slightest noise against the bottom 

 of the boat, as by tapping, it ceases immediately ; but as soon as all is 

 quiet again, it recommences. It is only heard, moreover, when the 

 Aveather is fine. The white perch is from fifteen to twenty inches 

 long ; but I have seen them occasionally much larger, up to four and 

 even six pounds. Six weeks after they return to the rivers, their 

 flesh acquires a dazzling whiteness ; but during the summer heats the 

 fish grows thin, and loses its decided sea-water flavour. 



