340 BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



January, and he has seen two, three, or four young pups on 

 the ice in that month ; others aver they breed in May and 

 June. I have never yet seen the young in the nests, but 

 have seen young ones caught in May, but could not tell 

 their age; so I must leave this point open. 



In winter the coat is darker and longer, and covers the 

 shorter, lighter, buff- coloured hair. Still, on warm fore- 

 noons in February, I have seen them on hovers sunning 

 themselves, their winter coat all shot, making them look 

 as white as snow in certain lights. But they are more 

 commonly to be seen at closing-in time than any other hour 

 of the day, just as they are starting off to fish, or "work," 

 as the fenmen say. And they go miles on these expedi- 

 tions, across bog, water, and land. I know one trail, about 

 nine inches wide, that leads from their lairs along the 

 ronds (they do not frequent dry marshes) bordering a river 

 for a couple of miles, the trail sometimes running into the 

 shallow water (for they prefer a shallow broad for fishing, 

 and you may hear them on a high tide breaking like tigers 

 through the reed-beds) and out again, on across dikes, a pile 

 of green swan-like dung, with fish scales, marking the place 

 he got ashore (for they generally dung after a swim, the 

 water they swim in seldom being more than four feet deep), 

 on across wet marshes, over dikes, and to a shallow broad, 

 where he fishes the greater part of the night, returning at 

 daybreak. I say he — but a colony lie in the reed-hovers I 

 speak of. And if you follow their trail early of a morning, 

 you will find remains of their meals, great eels — some 

 weighing as much as four pounds — half-eaten, the bite 

 being as clean as if done with a sharp knife; but if we 

 may judge by his leavings, the otter likes eels least of all, 

 and, by the same standard, he Hkes tench best of all, eating 

 the whole fish right up to the gills. But with other fish the 

 case is different. I have seen eels with only a third of their 

 bodies eaten, others half-eaten, generally up to the middle ; 

 but I have never yet seen the classic spot " behind the 



