230 THE PERCH 



eggs are hardy enough, and, as all the world knows, 

 have been exported to the Antipodes. It was thus 

 that the rivers of certain of our great colonial posses- 

 sion were successfully stocked with trout. 



More simple even than the hurdle method is to 

 let the perch spawn where they will, watch the 

 spawning places carefully, and immediately a band of 

 eggs can be discovered protect it with wire netting 

 from the depredations of water fowl. This simple 

 course will do much to increase the stock of perch in 

 any river, pond, or lake. If it is desired to introduce 

 perch into untenanted waters, the eggs which have 

 been thus protected as soon as they have ' eyed ' can 

 be lifted on weeds or small pieces of withy twig, 

 placed in a carrier, and taken with as little shaking as 

 possible to their new home. There they can be 

 gently placed in the water, sticks being fixed into the 

 bank, on which they can rest, at about the same 

 depth at which they were originally deposited by the 

 parent fish. And here, too, they should, of course, be 

 protected by wire netting. 



It is not a difficult matter to hatch perch eggs in 

 an open wooden box containing water. The sides of 

 the box should be charred, and the eggs should be 

 supported much the same as they would be in river 

 or pond. I once tried hatching eggs in darkness in 



