332 Wild Life in Wales 



Although Cats are not, as a rule, fond of wetting their 

 feet, instances of their entering water, for the purpose of 

 capturing fish, are not unknown. When examining the 

 banks of the Llafar one day in the snow, for tracks of 

 Otters, we came upon the unmistakable footprints of a Cat, 

 which had hunted up the sides of the stream for nearly a 

 mile, crossing, and recrossing the water, in several places. 

 Where first noticed, the track showed that the animal had 

 landed from a deep pool, four or five yards in width ; in 

 other places it had crossed where swimming would scarcely 

 be necessary for more than a few feet, but where it might 

 have been supposed the strength of the current would have 

 deterred any but an amphibious creature from venturing. 

 In one or two other places, an extended swim was inevitable. 

 The Cat had been travelling at its leisure, and, except for 

 the sake of reaching some attractive hunting ground on the 

 opposite side of the water, or for the deliberate purpose of 

 fishing, there was nothing to suggest why it should have 

 taken so unusual a course. No signs of the capture of prey 

 of any kind could be detected ; and as in any case it is not 

 easy to see how a swimming cat could expect to catch fish, 

 it must be concluded that the animal merely showed its 

 contempt of the water, as an obstacle to its progress, by 

 crossing whenever it wished to reach the other side, and the 

 state of the weather would seem to point to the fact that 

 the contempt could only have arisen from long familiarity. 



