58 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 



feels when the hounds run into a fox that a valuable prize has 

 been secured. The killing is an incident, more or less disagree- 

 able ; and it may safely be said that, were the flesh of pheasants 

 and grouse no more palatable and nutritious than that of a fox, 

 the inducement to make big bags would cease. Were mere 

 killing for the sake of killing the motive of sport, what would 

 become more popular than rat-hunting } The perch, therefore, 

 has this merit above other fish in the angler's esteem, that it is 

 really excellent on the table. Cooks dislike the perch, perhaps, 

 because it is a troublesome fish to prepare, having rough scales 

 which must be scraped off, as a preliminary to most methods of 

 cooking ; but speaking as one who is exempt from that irksome 

 task, and whose function it is to pronounce upon fish as a dish, 

 I give the palm to the perch among British fresh-water fish, 

 always excepting the salmon. There be many who will 

 deem this an unmerited slight upon the trout. Well, it is 

 a matter of taste ; personally I prefer perch, unless it be very 

 small Scottish burn-trout, whereof I lately devoured five at a 

 sitting and wished for more. Clean, firm, and white, destitute 

 of that insidious earthy flavour to which fresh-water fish are so 

 prone, the flesh of a well-nourished perch taken in pure water 

 any time between the middle of June and the end of February 

 is equal to all but the best of haddocks. 



We Britishers are a spoilt race : we ransack the earth for 

 our ordinary food, as well as for delicacies ; but we are wont 

 to neglect the abundance at our doors. Given our climate and 

 fresh-water area, in almost any continental country the rearing, 

 fattening, and capture of perch for the market would be a 

 regular industry ; but in these islands we never trouble our 

 heads about them. I happen to live on the shores of a 

 wide, shallow bay, a kind of backwater of the strong tides 

 in St. George's Channel. Into this quiet retreat shoals of cod 

 drop back after spawning, and thousands are caught and sold — 

 soft, watery, insipid creatures. By the time they are getting 

 to be worth attention they are off into the strong water again. 



