94 ANGLING. 



only be obtained by practice. In angling near the 

 bottom, the bait should be frequently raised nearly 

 to the surface, and then allowed gently to sink 

 again. When the weather is cool and cloudy, with 

 a ruffling breeze from the south, perch will bite 

 during the whole day. The best hours towards 

 the end of spring are from seven to eleven in the 

 morning, and from two to six in the afternoon. 

 In warm and bright summer weather, excellent 

 times are from sunrise till six or seven in the 

 morning, and from six in the evening till sunset. 



The Perch is one of the most beautiful of the 

 fresh water fishes of Europe, but is too familiarly 

 known to need description. It inhabits both lakes 

 and rivers, but shuns salt water. Pallas, however, 

 is said to have stated in his Zoographia Russo-Asia- 

 tica (a work still unpublished), that about spawning 

 time both Pike and Perch are found in a gulf 

 of the Caspian Sea, about thirty verstes from 

 the mouth of the Terek. The female deposits 

 her eggs, united together by a viscid matter, in 

 lengthened strings, a peculiarity noticed by Aris- 

 totle. Spawning takes place in April and May, 

 and the number of eggs sometimes amounts to near 

 a million. The Perch occurs all over Europe, and 

 in most of the northern districts of Asia. It is 

 easily tamed, and if kept moist will live for a long 

 time out of water. It sometimes attains to a great 

 size, but the majority are smallish fishes. Pen- 

 nant alludes to one said to have been taken in the 

 Serpentine River, Hyde Park, which weighed nine 

 pounds. But even one half of that weight would 



