OF SELBORNE. 105 
I have known a dovehouse infested by a pair of 
white owls, which made great havoc among the 
young pigeons; one of the owls was shot as soon 
as possible, but the surviver readily found a mate, 
and the mischief went on. After some time the 
new pair were both destroyed, and the annoyance 
ceased. 
Again: I knew a lover of setting, an old sports- 
man, who has often told me that, soon after harvest, 
he has frequently taken small coveys of partridges, 
consisting of cock-birds alone ; these he pleasantly 
used to call old bachelors. 
There is a propensity belonging to common 
housecats that is very remarkable ; I mean their 
violent fondness for fish, which appears-to be their 
most favourite food; and yet nature in this instance 
seems to have planted in them an appetite that, un- 
assisted, they know not how to gratify: for of all 
quadrupeds, cats are the least disposed towards 
water ; and will not, when they can avoid it, deign 
to wet a foot, much less to plunge into that ele. 
ment. 
Quadrupeds that prey on fish are amphibious : 
such is the Orrer, which by nature is so well 
