The Bass Family iii 



There are two dorsal fins, though they are con- 

 nected at the base. 



Its color is olivaceous, or green of various 

 shades on the head and back, with silvery or 

 greenish sides, and silvery white belly. Some- 

 times the color is bluish on the back and head. 

 Those confined in ponds are always darker in 

 hue. 



The white-perch is one of the best and most 

 esteemed pan-fishes of the eastern coast. It 

 grows to a foot or more in length, occasionally 

 weighing three pounds ; but the usual size is 

 from six to nine inches, and from one-half to a 

 pound in weight in brackish water. Smaller 

 ones ascend the streams to fresh water. It is 

 usually found associating with small striped-bass, 

 and their habits are much alike, feeding on the 

 same food, as small minnows, young eels, shrimp, 

 etc. It spawns in the spring, usually in May, in 

 shallow, weedy situations in both fresh and brack- 

 ish water. The eggs are quite small, about forty 

 thousand to a fish, and hatch in three or four days. 



As a boy I was very fond of fishing for white- 

 perch, which were then very abundant in the 

 Spring Garden branch of the Patapsco River, at 

 Baltimore, from Ferry Bar to the mud-flats near 



