66 COMMON BRITISH ANIMALS 



quite capable of killing a large fish. Swimming up 

 stream rapidly, the otter lands frequently, especially 

 where the rush of water impedes its progress, and, 

 trotting or galloping briskly, cuts off corners or 

 passes up the rocks at the sides of waterfalls till it 

 reaches some favourite fishing ground where food is 

 plentiful. In this manner otters range over con- 

 siderable distances during their evening and nocturnal 

 peregrinations and their tracks of five rounded toes 

 (called the otter's ^spur') with the web mark often 

 showing in the mud or sandy beach are unmistakable 

 for those of any other creature.''"^ 



Although the otter is generally described as a 

 deadly enemy to fish preserves, to be diligently 

 sought for and exterminated if possible, Mr. Millais, 

 who is an ardent fisherman, thinks that even in the 

 big salmon rivers otters do no harm to fish, '^ and he 

 is a churlish fisherman indeed who grudges this 

 graceful creature his share — a share, too, that rightly 

 belongs to him — of the mass of fish. On nine rivers 

 out of ten, otters live on fish which are not considered 

 by the angler, and on the tenth the quadruped prob- 

 ably does quite as much good as harm by thinning 

 down the old male trout, which destroy endless 

 numbers of spawn and fry.'' He also kills salmon 

 infected with disease and thus helps to purify the 

 river. " After all," the same sportsman says, '' if 

 otters do kill a certain number of clean fish, man 

 has no right to a complete monopoly. The Almighty 

 never intended that such selfishness should exist on 

 our part or He would not have created so many 

 * Loc. eit., vol. ii, p. 9. 



