PERCHE  , a region of

northern France extending over the departments of Orne, Eure, Eure-et-Loir and Sarthe . Its boundaries are Normandy on the N. and W., Maine on the S.W., Vendomois and Dunois on the S., Beauce on the E. and Thimerais on the N.E . The greater part of the district is occupied by a semicircle of heights (from 65o to r000 ft. in height) stretching from Moulins-la-Marche on the north-west to Montmirail on the south; within the basin formed thereby the shape of which is defined by the Huisne, an affluent of the Sarthe, lie the chief towns—Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou and Belleeme . Stock-raising and dairy-farming are flourishing in the Perche, which is famous for the production of a breed of large and powerful horses . Cider-apples and pears are grown throughout the district . In the middle ages the Perche constituted a countship of which Corbon, Mortagne and Nogent-le-Rotrou were successively the capitals . Under the ancien regime it formed, together with Maine, a gouvernement of which Mortagne was the capital .