During June they returned to a perch
diet, and they kept to this untU the end
of July, varied only by an occasional
crayfish. In August the young perch
which had been hatched out in May
began to occupy their attention, and the
larger perch were left alone. These
small fish were barely two inches long,
and were just beginning to show the dark
stripes on their sides. They kept chiefly
to the shallows, and were fond of stagnant
pools among the tall reeds. Under my
boathouse they swarmed, and when we
required any for bait we used to dip them
out with a fine -mesh net on a ring. It
was easy to drive them into a corner and
scoop up scores at a time. The pike did
not seem to bother them during the day ;
but in the cool of the evening, all night,
and in the early morning they hunted
them in the shallows with much splashing.
From this time the pike gave up eating
the larger perch, only occasional ones



158 TROUT WATERS

being found in their stomachs, and con-
fined their attentions to the youngsters.
In December and through the winter
months they took to large perch again.
It will be seen that perch formed the
staple article of diet except during May.
