PERCH-FISHING. 245 



l^ut to return : such is the extraordinary hardiness and lon- 

 gevity of the perch, according to authorities, that there is one 

 of the perch genus, Perca scandens or Climbing Perch, a native 

 of several parts of the East, which not only travels over land, 

 but actually ascends trees in pursuit of the crustaceans iipon 

 which it feeds, having been taken at an altitude of many feet 

 from the ground. 



The structure of this fish peculiarly fits it for the exercise 

 of this remarkable instinct. Its gill covers are armed with a 

 number of spines, by which, used as hands, it appears to sus- 

 pend itself. Making its tail a lever, and standing, as it were, 

 on the little spines of its anal fin, it endeavours to push itself 

 upward through the interstices of the bark by the expansion of 

 its body, closing at the same time its gill covers that they may 

 not impede its progress ; then, reaching a higher point, it opens 

 them again. Thus, and by bending the spiny rays of its dorsal 

 fins to right and left and fixing them in the bark, it continues 

 its journey upwards. These 'travelling fish ' are all more or less 

 expressly equipped by nature for the purpose. 



Whilst alluding to the late Mr. Stoddart,not only as a mighty 

 fisher of trout, but also of salmon, it is pleasant to find that 

 notwithstanding his almost unrivalled opportunities of satiating 

 his tastes in this direction, he yet kept a warm corner of his 

 heart for the humbler pursuits of float fishing and especially 

 perch fishing by pond and lake. 



There is a diversion, after its kind, he says, in watching for the 

 dip of one's float, near the edge of a lake or pool, in which you 

 have reason to know that perch are tolerably plentiful, and of a 

 size, in the long run, worth capturing ; diversion, sufficient at 

 least ; which will content and ever excite thousands among the 

 Waltonian order of anglers ; nay, to work upon the fancy, now and 

 then, of the experienced slaughterer of trout and salmon. I admit, 

 for my own part, under these circumstances, that I take special 

 pleasure in a few hours' perch fishing. The variety itself is most 

 acceptable ; and many a time would I gladly exchange, on that 

 score alone, a promising forenoon's sport on Tweed or Teviot for 

 a quiet fling in Yetholm or Fasten Loch, two well-known preserves 



