32 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Fig. 6. Different sorts of traps for fresh-water fishing. 
a: wicker-work trap ( videmjarde ). 
b: network trap ( garnmjarde ), 
c: sinking trap (scinkmj circle), 
d: flat-bottomed sinking trap. 
when it collects in shoals. It then assembles in large 
or small bodies and makes its way to shallow spots in 
the creeks where it is sure of finding small fry and 
insects. At this time its movements are very quick 
and active, and it may often be seen to leap out of 
the water in its pursuit of the smaller fishes. During 
the chase it suddenly slaps the surface of the water 
with its tail and thus produces a sound not unlike that 
of expectoration. The fisherman imitates this sound 
by snapping his fingers in the water, and some persons 
believe that by this means they can entice the fish to 
the place whence the sound proceeds. 
As we have already mentioned, the Perch is a fish 
of prey, and since on account of its courage and daring 
it has no difficulty in finding food, and does not remain 
at other spots than those where it can procure food in 
abundance, it is generally in good condition all the 
year round. Its flesh is white, firm and wholesome, 
and has the peculiarity, uncommon among fishes, that 
one can eat it daily for a long time without becoming 
tired of it. The flavour of the fish greatly depends, 
however, upon the nature of the water it inhabits. 
Those perch which are caught in shallow lakes with a 
grassy bottom are smaller, leaner and of worse flavour 
than those which are taken in larger lakes with a stony 
bottom and deep, clear, running water. The salt-water 
Perch is the most highly esteemed, and holds in Sweden 
the same place as the Rhine Perch has long held in 
France and the Perch of Lake Leman in Switzerland. 
In domestic economy this fish would be of much more 
value, if it could be preserved for future use without 
losing too much of its flavour. This is, however, an 
impossibility. It has been sometimes salted, sometimes 
dried, but the delicate flavour which the fish possesses 
when eaten fresh, entirely disappears under this process. 
It is only poor people who dry the Perch in the sun 
and eat it to stay their hunger; among people in better 
circumstances it is always sent to table fresh. Expe- 
rience has also taught us that the Perch cannot be kept 
long out of the water before its flesh loses flavour. 
In order to avoid this, recourse is sometimes had to the 
expedient of throwing the fish into the pan alive and 
boiling it without cleaning it at all. 
It is natural that a fish so valuable for culinary 
purposes should be eagerly sought after. In spring the 
Perch is caught in traps ( mj ardor , fig. 6) at the spots 
where it deposits its spawn. The traps are either large, 
in which case they are set in a kind of weir ( verke ), 
or small, in which case they are set singly and are 
called sinking-traps. The ’ verke is a method of fishing 
practised in the North from prehistoric times. Parallel 
rows of stakes are fixed in the bottom of the lake, 
and the spaces between them are alternately filled with 
pine-branches or left open to receive the traps. This 
weir is constructed at the spot where the Perch spawns, 
