PERgH 



CHAPTER XII 



Observations of the Perch, and Directions how to Fish for him. 



ISC. The Perch is a very good and a very bold- 

 biting fish. He is one of the fishes of prey 

 that, like the pike and trout, carries his teeth 

 in his mouth, which is very large ; and he dare 

 venture to kill and devour several other kinds of 

 fish. He has a hooked or hog back, which is 

 armed with sharp and stiff bristles, and all his 

 skin armed or covered over with thick dry hard scales, and hath 

 (which few other fish have) two fins on his back. He is so bold 

 that he will invade one of his own kind, which the pike will not do 

 willingly, and you may therefore easily believe him to be a bold biter. 

 The perch is of great esteem in Italy, saith Aldrovandus, and 

 especially the least are there esteemed a dainty dish. And Gesner 

 prefers the perch and pike above the trout, or any fresh-water fish : 

 he says the Germans have this proverb, " More wholesome than a 

 perch of Rhine;" and he says the river perch is so wholesome that 

 physicians allow him to be eaten by wounded men, or by men in 

 fevers, or by women in child-bed. 



180 



