3 S BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



pike, but other predatory fish, and grebes, have 

 been found choked by armoured perch and 

 sticklebacks. 



The salmon- or trout-fisher is rarely averse 

 to devote a day to perch. In fact, this is the 

 game at which he was " entered," and he has 

 never quite forgotten that first golden afternoon. 

 He remembers every bait which will tempt the 

 prettily-finned fish to drag down the float, and 

 has used them all. How many hours has he 

 stood by the bank of some sluggish stream or 

 quiet tarn, every moment of which was filled 

 with pleasurable hope ? And then the intense 

 excitement of hauling one of the crimson-tinted 

 fishes on to the bank, and how this was re- 

 peated again and again until the perch stopped 

 " biting." But to hundreds of others besides the 

 youthful enthusiast, this beautiful fish has given 

 quiet, pleasurable enjoyment ; and then, is he not 

 one of the very best-known of all our " sporting 

 fishes " ? Through the long hours of a sunny 

 summer day, the perch will sometimes continue to- 

 feed ; and then the catch may be counted by the 

 score. But oftener the conditions are not nearly 

 so favourable, and then the fish may severely try 

 the long-suffering patience of the angler. 



'"Ad e'er a bite, Jim?" "No, I only cum 

 here yesterday morning." This is an apt though 



