38 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 
pike, but other predatory fish, and grebes, have 
been found choked by armoured perch and 
sticklebacks. 
The salmon- or trout-fisher is rarely averse 
to devote a day to perch. In fact, this is the 
game at which he was “entered,” and he has 
never quite forgotten that first golden afternoon. 
He remembers every bait which will tempt the 
prettily-finned fish to drag down the float, and 
has used them all. How many hours has he 
stood by the bank of some sluggish stream or 
quiet tarn, every moment of which was filled 
with pleasurable hope? And then the intense 
excitement of hauling one of the crimson-tinted 
fishes on to the bank, and how this was re- 
peated again and again until the perch stopped 
“biting.” But to hundreds of others besides the 
youthful enthusiast, this beautiful fish has given 
quiet, pleasurable enjoyment ; and then, is he not 
one of the very best-known of all our “sporting 
fishes”? Through the long hours of a sunny 
summer day, the perch will sometimes continue to. 
feed; and then the catch may be counted by the 
score. But oftener the conditions are not nearly 
so favourable, and then the fish may severely try 
the long-suffering patience of the angler. 
“’Ad eer a bite, Jim?” ‘No, I only cum 
here yesterday morning.” This is an apt though 
