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 shadow 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. 1, 1770.

Dear Sir,

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 praesentis saeculi, calamitas artis.'

Pray how do you approve of Scopoli's new work? As I admire his
Entomologia, I long to see it.

I forgot to mention in my last letter (and had not room to insert in