114 '^^''' PERCH. 



dyke ends, out of the way of the raging flood water. Poor 

 fellows, they have been most likely on very short commons 

 during the long cold winter, and as a consequence very sharp 

 set. When the water clears a little, and the angler drops 

 across a corner in which a large shoal is packed, the execu- 

 tion is sometimes pitiful. A few handfuls of chopped-up 

 worms are thrown in, and a red worm on the hook; and 

 sometimes the sport (save the mark) continues until every 

 perch is cleared out of the hole. Once only I can remember 

 being in at the death of a whole shoal of packed perch, and 

 even now I feel a little bit ashamed of the exploit. I found 

 them at home in a deep hole at a dyke end that ran into 

 the River Witham, not very far from) where the county of 

 Lincoln joined the county of Nottingham. It was during 

 the early days of February, just after the frost of a long 

 and severe winter had broken up, and the yellow flood- 

 water was tearing down the river in high spate. A few yards 

 up the dyke the water was, comparatively speaking, clear, 

 and at least seven or eight feet deep. In about three hours 

 I had landed three dozen fair good perch weighing a. little 

 over 2olb., and considered I had cleared every one out of 

 the hole, as during the remainder of the afternoon I failed 

 to add a single one to the bag. I have heard of as many 

 as 200 being taken at one sitting under similar circum- 

 stances ; but, thank goodness, whatever may have been my 

 piscatorial sins, I have not one of that magnitude to answer 

 for. 



The perch is a member of the Percidae family, and is a 

 representative of the spinous-finned fish, that is, having 

 spikes or prickles on the end of the rays of some of his 

 fins. A great characteristic of this fish is the second fin on 

 the back. His scientific name is Perca Fluviatilis, and he 

 is a very handsome, well-made member of the finny tribe; 

 in fact, I consider him a gem of the first water. Look at 

 the beautiful scarlet of his fins, the golden rings of his eyes, 

 the pale green of his sides, shaded and relieved by the 

 darker bars that stripe his body from the shoulder to the 

 tail. His scales are small, very hard, and extremely diffi- 

 cult to scrape off, but they are arranged in such perfect 

 order ; in fact, he appears to me to be about as perfect a 



