154 THE PERCH. 



reasoning that minnows were kept in another 

 portion of the fish-house. Whenever they saw 

 Tcnnant go near the place where the minnows were 

 kept, they began to rush about as if in anticipation 

 of the welcome feed, which, somehow or other, they 

 had ascertained was forthcoming for their benefit." 

 But of all intelligent fish the most intelligent must 

 be the Perca scandens or A nabas scandens, the Climb- 

 ing Perch, a native of Ceylon and other Eastern 

 countries ; it not only travels over land, but climbs 

 trees to the height of several feet in pursuit of the 

 food on which it exists, using the spines of its 

 dorsal fin and its prickly gill-covers, also the tail 

 and its stiff scales, to enable it to climb the tree- 

 trunks. Sir Emerson Tennent tells all about this 

 queer perch in his book on The Natural History 

 of Ceylon (published 1860). 



The tenacity of life in perch is almost as extra- 

 ordinary as in carp ; they may be packed in damp 

 weeds, moss, or hay, and if occasionally wetted, 

 can be conveyed a hundred miles or more, without 

 perceptible loss of vitality, and turned alive and 

 vigorous into a pond or water-tank. From the 

 upper parts of the Thames, above Moulsford, I 

 have brought them to London, packed in the way 

 described, and kept them alive for days afterwards. 

 If packed this way, perch will in the winter survive 

 a journey even if apparently frozen and will 

 recover animation if thawed by placing them in 

 water three or four degrees above freezing point. 

 Cold-blooded animals preserve vitality for a 

 lengthened period in a frozen condition : Sir John 

 Franklin discovered fish perfectly frozen, but after- 

 wards capable of resuscitation. 



Do perch feed at night ? As for myself I never 



