94 NATURAL HISTORY OF SFLBORNE 



provided with a fresh paramour, that did not take her away from 

 her usual haunt. 



Again ; I knew a lover of setting, an old sportsman, 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 house-cats that is 

 very remarkable ; I mean their violent fondness for fish, which 

 appears to be their most favourite food : and yet nature in this 



OTTER. 



instance seems to have planted in them an appetite that, unassisted, 

 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 element. 



Quadrupeds that prey on fish are amphibious : such is the otter, 

 which by nature is so well formed for diving, that it makes great 

 havoc among the inhabitants of the waters. Not supposing that 

 we had any of those beasts in our shallow brooks, I was much 

 pleased to see a male otter, brought to me, weighing twenty-one 



