6o NATURE'S CALENDAR 



April 6 None is a better t\^pe of the brook 



~ fishes than the perch, the handsome, 



gold-colored, darkly barred type of all 

 the bony fishes. You will find him 

 wherever there are quiet waters of mod- 

 erate depth, loitering in pools under hol- 

 low banks, poising in eddies and shady 

 reaches, preferring the sides of the stream 

 to its swifter central currents, and liking 

 a sandy or pebbly bottom better than a 

 muddy one. If you try to catch perch in 

 a mill-pond, you must drop your line in 

 the deepest water. You will have the 

 best chance alongside some bridge-pier 

 or sluice-gate. 



"When the marsh marigold blooms in 

 the meadows, the spawning-time of the 

 perch is near at hand." This means our 

 month in the middle districts. The 

 perch's eggs are about as large as poppy 

 seeds, and cling stickily together " like 

 pearl necklaces, in beautifully interlaced 

 bands," five or six feet long and an inch 

 or two wide. These glutinous ribbons 

 adhere to twigs and stones in shallow 

 water, and are sought for as dainties by 

 birds, by fishes, and by all kinds of 

 aquatic animals, so that few out of the 

 many survive. It is because the dangers 

 to which the eggs and young are exposed 

 are so many and persistent that these 

 creatures are obliged to lay tens of thou- 

 sands of eggs apiece, in order that one or 

 two alone may have a chance of surviv- 

 ing to maturity. Nowhere is the struggle 



