THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



condition affords excellent sport, and is a deserved favourite with 

 each and every fisherman, be he young or old.' It is the ' partridge 

 of the waters ' according to Ausonius. 



' Nor wiU I pass thee over in silence, O Perch, the delicacy of 

 the tables, worthy among river fish to be compared with sea 

 fish ; thou alone art able to contend with the red mullets.' 

 Venner in his Via Beeta ad Vitam Longam, 1650, tells us that the 

 perch is the equal of the trout or pickerel, while Frank Buckland 

 writes : ' Our friend, the perch, is one of the most beautiful fish 

 which it has pleased Providence to place in our waters.' Lord 

 Lytton has doubtless fished for perch, as he tells an interesting 

 story about it in his My Novel. 



The barbel, Barbus vulgaris, evidently does not beUeve in 

 Home Eule, nor has it any particular interest in the non-conform- 

 ists. I judge this, as it is not known in Ireland or Scotland. 

 Their stronghold is the Trent and Thames, where giants of eight, 

 ten, twelve, fourteen pounds have been taken by delirious anglers. 

 Mr. Jones of London, I believe, holds the record with a fourteen 

 poxmder, taken from the lawn of the Swan Hotel, near Badcot 

 Bridge. 



The barbel is an attractive fish, moustached like a cavalier, 

 with four barbules about its mouth. In India it is one of the 

 great game fishes to which I have referred elsewhere, the mahseer. 



The species known as Barbus mosal in the highlands of India 

 attains a length of six feet and affords wild sport to the adventurous 

 angler who foUows him to the watery lair of his choice. ' A 

 right good fish to angle for,' says ' John Bickerdyke.' It is also 

 known as the chevin, chevender and the large-headed dace, or 

 skeUy, Leuciscus cephalus. It is caught in very much the same 

 way as all this group of coarse fish of England. It, too, avoids 

 Ireland and the north of Scotland, and for some reason Devon, 

 Cornwall and Norfolk. 



The chub is a most complacent and sociable fish, imitating 

 its betters by taking a fly. The dace, daver, dort, is an at- 

 tractive, graceful little fish, beloved by anglers and especially 

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