PAIRING OF BIRDS CATS. 



the mischief went on. After some time, the new pair 

 were both destroyed, and the annoyance ceased. 



Another instance I remember, of a sportsman, 

 whose zeal for the increase of his game being greater 

 than his humanity, after pairing time, he always shot 

 the cock-bird of every couple of partridges upon his 

 grounds : supposing that the rivalry of many males 

 interrupted the breed. He used to say that, though 

 he had widowed the same hen several times, yet he 

 found she was still provided with a fresh paramour, 

 that did not take her away from her usual haunt. 



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 house 

 cats that is very remarkable : I mean their violent 

 fondness for fish, which appears to be their most fa- 

 vourite food ; and yet nature, in this 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*. 



* In the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, on the authority 

 of Dr. Darwin, cats fish : he says, " Mr. Leonard, a very intelli- 

 gent friend of mine, saw a cat catch a trout, by darting upon it 

 in a deep clear water, at the mill at Weaford, near Lichfield. 

 The cat belonged to Mr. Stanley, who had often seen her catch 

 fish in the same manner in summer, when the mill-pool was 

 drawn so low that the fish could be seen. I have heard of other 

 cats taking fish in shallow water, as they stood on the bank. 

 This seems to be a natural method of taking their prey, usually 

 lost by domestication, though they all retain a strong relish for 

 fish." 



The Rev. W. Bingley mentions another instance of a cat freely 

 taking the water, related by his friend Mr. Bill, of Christchurch. 



