V. 



PERCH. 



THE armoured perch is certainly one of the 

 handsomest of British fresh-water fishes. He 

 is a bold biter, too, and affords sport to a whole 

 army of anglers who have never flogged a trout- 

 stream or fished a salmon river. His distribution 

 is almost as wide as that of the Englishman, and 

 he is as hardy as prolific. A large female fish will 

 yield two hundred thousand eggs in a season, 

 and as these hatch rapidly, the possible increase 

 of the species may be imagined. Perch-fry, how- 

 ever, have an army of aquatic enemies, which 

 allow but a small number ever to reach maturity. 

 There is a quiet confidence about the perch which 

 renders observation of its habits both easy and 

 interesting. If fed by hand they soon recognise 

 their friend, and are punctual in their appearing. 

 Looking down into the still, deep water, the 

 first sign of the approach of perch is the sudden 

 stampede of a shoal of silvery roach. The 

 metallic scales of these flash in the sunlight ; 



