208 



from a warm quarter, are extremely favourable,, and induce 

 them to take good baits with great eagerness. 



They do not bite well when about to spawn, which is 

 generally towards the end of May, nor for a while after- 

 wards. 



In some waters, particularly where they are shallow, 

 the perch intermix with the dace> and take a fly : this, 

 however, is not their general habit. They prefer a rich 

 palmer, or a heavy-bodied yellowish fly. 



I have taken great numbers by lolling over a bush 

 into a gravelly hole, with a natural fly, but especially 

 with a large caterpillar. They will also take the cadi ate, 

 when it has attained its proper colour by keeping, as de- 

 scribed in treating of that bait. 



I have read of perch biting well in the winter, but my 

 own experience does not in the least corroborate that in- 

 formation 3 on the contrary, I think, after the jack, they 

 are, of all fishes, the most difficult to allure from the 

 middle of November to the end of February, when they 

 will begin to feed, provided the weather proves open. 



Of the Eel. 



Although so common in our ponds, and inland waters, 

 it is nevertheless a sea fish, and only comes up our rivers 

 for the purpose of securing its young, which are all born 

 alive, and may be seen in vast numbers, at the edges of 

 streams, working up as far as they can reach before the 

 winter floods carry them to the sea. 



These little animals are called elvers j but such is the 

 rapidity of their growth, that by the end of the year they 

 will be from eight inches to a foot, or jnore, in length : 

 they are then called grlggs. 



There 



