PERCH-FISHING. 257 



by no means difficult to tame ; Mr. Jesse succeeded, after a 

 few days only, in inducing them to feed from his hand. 

 Bloch mentions having watched them deposit their ova in a 

 vessel kept in his own room ; and I am informed that the 

 perch of the Zoological Gardens, already referred to, increase 

 their numbers by an annual shoal of young fry, which are 

 hatched and reared under the eyes of hundreds of visitors. 



A comical anecdote, turning upon this faculty of ready 

 acclimatisation, is related by the author of ' Fishes and Fishing.' 

 A country gentleman was anxious to induce a London friend 

 to visit him, and knowing the latter to be a very keen angler, 

 bethought him of adding the temptation of a ' day's fishing in 

 his private water ' to the usual attractions of a suburban villa. 

 The bait took. A day was fixed ; and, punctual to his appoint- 

 ment, arrived the sportsman, with the usual assortment of rods, 

 reels, lines, &c. He was all impatient to be at his work ; but 

 his host persuaded him first to partake of luncheon ; after 

 which he introduced him to ' his water,' which proved to be an 

 ornamental basin, in width about equal to the length of one of 

 the rods the visitor had brought with him. The chagrin and 

 disappointment of the latter may be imagined ; but upon the 

 assurance that there really were fish in the pond, he put his 

 tackle together and adjusted a bait. It had hardly touched the 

 water before he hooked and landed a fine perch ; another and 

 another followed, and by the time his friend came to summon 

 him to dinner he had thirty-five fish in his basket. 



' Well,' said the kind-hearted host; 'I am glad you have 

 had such sport ; I caused three dozen to be put in the day 

 before yesterday/ 



' Indeed,' replied the angler ; ' then I will come back and 

 catch the thirty- sixth after dinner.' 



The spawning season of the perch is at the end of April or 

 the beginning of May, and in a specimen of half-a-pound 

 weight no less than 280,000 ova have been found. The ova 

 are deposited in strings, which hang about amongst the weeds 

 and rocks, and when seen through the sunlight, present the 



II. S 



