SPINNING FOR PERCH. 83 



with small teeth in addition to those in the 

 throat. The tail and ventral fins are a bright 

 vermilion in colour; the pectoral and dorsal 

 fins are brown. There are two fins on the 

 back, the one nearer the head being armed 

 with strong spikes, extremely sharp at the 

 points, which it erects when alarmed or 

 attacked. The angler, therefore, should be 

 careful not to have his hands pricked by any 

 of these points when unhooking a Perch: I 

 have known it to have, occasionally, extremely 

 unpleasant, not to say rather dangerous results. 

 The Perch is covered with strong scales, and is 

 of a bronzy green on the back and sides, down 

 which are several dark stripes reaching from 

 the back nearly to the belly. As regards his 

 habits, he is socially gregarious, and remark- 

 ably imitative in the matter of taking a bait. 

 Perch are to be found in the eddies of weirs 

 and mill-tails, also in deep holes about bridges. 

 Close to the camp-sheeting at the side of a 

 weir, or in the backwater at the foot of the 

 spurs of it, will be found good places to use 

 the spinning-bait ; .taking care, however, not to 

 let the undercurrent carry the bait under the 

 sill of the weir. As regards artificial baits, 

 a very small spoon is often successful, but I 

 prefer a minnow, or small artificial parr. For 

 catching minnows for bait, the minnow-trap 

 will be found very useful ; consisting of a very 

 clear wide-mouthed glass bottle, over the 

 mouth of which is fitted a movable cap of 



