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6 The Natural History of Selborne 



pairing-time, single, and of each sex ; but whether this state of 

 celibacy is matter of choice or necessity, it is not so easily discover- 

 able. When the house-sparrows deprive my martins of their nests, 

 as soon as I cause one to be shot, the other, be it cock or hen,, 

 presently procures a mate, and so for several times following. 



I have known a dove-house 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 survivor readily found a mate, and 

 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 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, 

 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 pounds, that 

 had been shot on the bank of our stream below the Priory, where.- 

 the rivulet divides the parish of Selborne from Harteley Wood. 



