140 NATURAL HISTORY 



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 com- 

 mon 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, un- 

 assisted, they know not how to gratify: 

 for of all quadrupeds cats are the least dis- 

 posed 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 amphi- 



