72 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



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. 



LETTER XXX 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE 



Selborne, Aug. i, 1770. 

 Dear Sir, 



The French, I think, in general, are strangely prolix in 

 their natural history. What Linnaeus says with respect 



