96 OTTER, 



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 sup- 

 posing 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 be- 

 low the Priory, where the rivulet divides the parish 

 of Selborne from Harteley-wood. 



XXX. 



THE French, I think, in general, are strangely 

 prolix in their natural history, What Linnaeus 

 says with respect to insects, holds good in every 

 other branch : " verbositas prtesentis sceculi, cola- 

 mitas artis" 



Pray how do you approve of Scopoli's new 

 work ? As I admire his Entomologia, I long to 

 see it. 



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 do- 

 mestication, 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. When he lived at Wallington, near 

 Carshalton, in Surrey, he had a cat that was often known 

 to plunge, without hesitation, into the river Wandle, and 

 swim over to an island at a little distance from the bank. To 

 this there could be no other inducement than the fish she 

 might catch on her passage, or the vermin that the island 

 afforded. W. J. 



