PERCID^. 7 



excellent flavour it was termed Perdix aquarum. It has white flesh, which is 

 firm in texture, delicate of taste, and easy of digestion. " In Ireland," says 

 Thompson, "it is in little esteem as food." The Dutch are said to be partial to 

 it when made into a dish termed "water souchey." 



Those _ from various localities have had their praises recorded by diflerent 

 authors: in England they are reputed to attain their largest size and highest 

 condition in Norfolk and Suffolk in the Tare and Waveney, where the water is 

 slightly brackish ; the improved flavour may be due to the presence of shrimps, 

 which ascend so high in the autumn months. On the Continent those of the 

 MoseUe, the_ Danube, the Po, the Rhine, and the Swiss Lakes hold the highest 

 place. Their flavour is considered best when they are in roe. 



Perch may be boiled or grilled with or without the removal of their scales, 

 while small ones are generally fried. On the Continent they are stewed in 

 vinegar, or fresh grape- or orange-juice, or some sour sauce. Another plan is to 

 spit them with their scales on, and baste with an acid juice while roasting ; and 

 Mr. Manley mentions that the best he has ever had served to him were skinned 

 and broiled very delicately in buttered paper. 



Habitat. — Generally throughout the fresh waters of Europe, also in the 

 Siberian territories of Asiatic Russia. While in the Western Hemisphere it is 

 found on the North American continent from the fresh waters which find their 

 way into Hudson's Bay as far south as those which empty themselves into the 

 Gulf of Mexico. In Scandinavia it is present, according to Nilsson, as far as the 

 sixty-ninth parallel. 



In Great Britain it is rare north of the Forth, unless it has been introduced 

 within the present century, now it is present in the Deveron, in Banfishire 

 (Edward), is common in the Forth and its tributaries, as well as in Scottish 

 waters to the south of this river. It does not appear to exist in the Orkneys and 

 Shetland Isles. It is almost universally distributed through England and Wales ; 

 but Borlase, in 1758, stated it to be unknown in Cornwall, where, however. Couch 

 remarks that it has been introduced this century. It is absent from the Isle of 

 Wight : while in Wales it is said to be chiefly confined to stagnant waters. 



In Ireland it is pretty general though not universal. I have personally 

 captured it near Longford, while the lakes of Mayo abound with it. Some 

 naturalists believe it to be an introduced species, but Thompson observes that he 

 is disposed to doubt this as it is so widely distributed. Kanahan, remarking upon 

 the fishes of the River Dodder (1852), observes that there is good proof that it 

 has existed there twenty years. 



As to the size it attains, one of 3 lb. weight is considered a prize by the 

 angler of the present day ; Pennant mentions one of 9 lb. as having been captured 

 in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, which a well known Norfolk angler (Land and 

 Water, 1879) does not hesitate to express his disbelief in, observing that the 

 largest he had personally captured was 5j- lb., though he missed landing one that 

 he estimated weighed half a pound more. Mr. G. Browne* records one from 

 Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, which was found in a decomposed state on a 

 night-line, it then weighed 5j lb., and in adddition to its putrid state, which 

 doubtless reduced its weight, there was a large piece bitten out of its shoulder, 

 most likely by eels : he concluded that when alive it would have been at least 

 61b. Montagu mentions one of 81b. from the Avon, in Wiltshire, captured on a 

 night-line baited with a roach : and Hawkins, in the " Complete Angler," an 

 example twenty-nine inches in length. Hunt one of 6 lb. from the Birmingham 

 Canal : Donovan one of 5 lb. from the Bala Lake, while some of 4 lb. have been 

 taken from Richmond Park and elsewhere. They appear to attain to their finest 

 size in the largest pieces of water. The head, nearly 12 inches in length, of a 

 perch, was stated by Bloch and others to have been preserved in the church of 

 Luehlah, in Lapland, but which it has been surmised, with great probability, 

 originally belonged to an example of Sebastes Norwegians, known as a "sea- 

 perch." 



* Angler's Note Book, p. 29. 



