LUNCH BY THE BROOKSIDE. 81 



low pebbles, and works his shining gill-plates, 

 that maintain a current through the red net- 

 work of gills by which he breathes. This is no 

 other than our common yellow perch, Perca 

 fluviatilis by his Latin name. If he were not so 

 common he would be thought a marvel of beauti- 

 ful colors. If one is to see him in all the glory 

 of tints and shades, he must jerk him out of his 

 element with a hook. He will come under a 

 sturdy protest, with his spiny fins spread angrily 

 abroad, like a full-rigged man-of-war with all 

 sail set. We underrate this perch as a food 

 fish. Good judges of such matters declare him 

 to be an excellent pan fish. One perch lays 

 about twenty-eight thousand eggs as large as 

 small poppy seeds. They hatch in a few days, 

 and in two or three years will reach an average 

 size. The great number of eggs indicates great 

 danger to eggs and young, and one of the most 

 serious is from the parent fish. They will de- 

 vour their own young, and would not leave one 

 alive if they could capture them all. They 

 know young fish make good food, but they do 

 not know they have any young ones. Very dif- 

 ferent is this from some fish, that carry their 

 eggs in their gills, or others, that make a nest of 

 sticks and grass and web of their own making, 

 and guard the eggs till they hatch, and the 



