CHAP, xii.] THE FOURTH DA Y. 157 



may be, at one standing, all catched one after another ; they 

 being, as he says, like the wicked of the world, not afraid, though 

 their fellows and companions perish in their sight. And you 

 may observe, that they are not like the solitary Pike, but love to 

 accompany one another, and march together in troops. 



And the baits for this bold fish are not many : I mean, he will 

 bite as well at some, or at any of these three, as at any or all 

 others whatsoever ; a worm, a minnow, or a little frog, of which 

 you may find many in hay-time. And of worms ; the dunghill 

 worm called a brandling I take to be best, being well scoured in 

 moss or fennel ; or he will bite at a worm that lies under cow- 

 dung, with a bluish head. And if you rove for a Perch with a 

 minnow, then it is best to be alive ; you sticking your hook 

 through his back fin ; or a minnow with the hook in his upper 

 lip, and letting him swim up and down, about mid-water, or a 

 little lower, and you still keeping him to about that depth by a 

 cork, which ought not to be a very little one : and the like way 

 you are to fish for the Perch with a small frog, your hook being 

 'fastened through the skin of his leg, towards the upper part of 

 it : and, lastly, I will give you but this advice, that you give the 

 Perch time enough when he bites ; for there was scarce ever any 

 angler that has given him too much.* And now I think best 

 to rest myself ; for I have almost spent my spirits with talking 

 so long. 



VENATOR. Nay, good master, one fish more, for you see it 

 rains still : and you know our angles are like money put to usury ; 

 they may thrive, though we sit still, and do nothing but talk and 

 enjoy one another. Come, come, the other fish, good master. 



PlSCATOR. But, scholar, have you nothing to mix with this 

 discourse, which now grows both tedious and tiresome ? Shall I 



* Although Perch, like Trout, delight in clear swift rivers, with pebbly, gravelly 

 bottoms, they are often found in sandy, clayey soils : they love a moderately deep water, 

 and frequent holes by the sides of or near little streams, and the hollows under banks. 



The Perch spawns about the beginning of March : the best time of the year to angle 

 for him is from the beginning of May till the end of June, yet you may continue to fish 

 for him till the end of September: he is best taken in cloudy windy weather. Other, 

 baits for the Perch are, loaches, miller's-thumbs, sticklebacks ; lob, marsh, and red 

 worms. When you rove for Perch with a minnow or other small fish, use a large cork 

 float, and lead your line about nine inches from the bottom, otherwise the bait will come 

 to the top of the water ; but in the ordinary way of fishing, let your bait hang within 

 about six inches from the ground. H. 



Pennant mentions a Perch that was taken in the Serpentine river, Hyde Park, that 

 weighed nine pounds. He also mentions a very singular variety of the Perch ; the back 



quite hunched, and the lower part of the backbone, next the tail, strangely distorted, 

 found in a lake called Llyn Raithlyn, in Merionethshire. " They are not peculiar to this 

 water, for Linnaeus (he adds) takes notice of a similar variety found at Fahlun, in his 







aritty fo 



own country. I have also heard that it is to be met with in the Thames, near Marlow.' 

 E. Brit. Zoology, vol. iii. p. 224, edit. 1776. 



