428 THE COMMON PERCH. 



OF THE PERCH TEIBE, 



OF about sixty known species of Perch, the ancients were acquainted 

 only with three. The voracity of these fishes is boundless. They are 

 also endowed with strong muscular powers of action, and with great 

 activity of body. When seized in the hand, or attacked by an enemy, 

 they erect the spines of their first dorsal fin, and strike them at the 

 intruder with such force and address, as sometimes to cause dreadful 

 lacerations. 



THE COMMON PERCH. 



The Common Perch are gregarious ; and, contrary to the nature of 

 nearly all fresh-water fish that 

 swim in shoals, they are so vor- 

 acious as to attack and devour 

 even their own species. They 

 grow slowly, and are seldom 

 caught of extraordinary size. 



Perch are found in clear, 

 swift rivers, with pebbly or 

 gravelly bottoms, and in those 

 of a sandy or clayey soil. They 

 seem to prefer moderately deep water, and holes by the sines of, or 

 near to gentle streams, where there is an eddy; the hollows under 

 banks, among weeds, and roots of trees; the piles of bridges or 

 ditches, and back streams that have a communication with some 

 river. They also thrive sufficiently well in ponds that are fed by a 

 brook or rivulet. These fish are very tenacious of life. They hnva 

 been known to survive a journey of near sixty miles, although 

 packed in dry straw. 



It is generally believed that a Pike will not attack a full grown 

 Perch: he is deterred from so doing, by the spiny fins of its back, 

 which this fish always erects at the approach of an enemy. The 

 smaller Perch, however, are frequently used as bait for Pike. 



The season of angling for Perch, is from April to January; and 

 the time from sunrise till ten o'clock, arvl from two o'clock till sunset: 

 except in cloudy weather, with a ruffling south wind, when they will 

 bite all day. The bqits are various kinds of worms, a minnow, or 

 grass hopper. So voracious are these fish, that it is said, if an expert 

 angler find a shoal of them, he may catch every one. If, however, a 

 single fish escape that has felt the hook, all is over; this fish becomes 

 so restless, as soon to occasion the whole shoal to leave the place. 



In winter the Perch is exceedingly abstemious, and during that 

 season it scarcely ever takes a bait, except in the middle of a warm 

 sunny day. In clear weather, during the spring, sometimes a dozen 

 or more of these fish may be observed in a deep hole, sheltered by 



COMMON PBiCH. 



