322 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. 



times, by Daniel, Bewick, Shaw^ and others ; in one of which 

 an Otter had been known to take eight or ten salmon in a day : 

 and the following passage in the journal of Bishop Heber con- 

 firms some previous statements, that one of the Asiatic species, 

 probably Lutra nair, (Fr. Guv.) may be rendered similarly use- 

 ful : — < We passed, to my surprise, a row of no less than nine 

 or ten large and very beautiful Otters, tethered with straw 

 collars and long strings to bamboo stakes on the banks (of the 

 Malta Colly). Some were swimming about at the full extent of 

 their strings, or lying half in and half out of the water; others 

 were rolling themselves in the sun on the sandy bank, uttering 

 a shrill whistling noise, as if in play. I was told that most of 

 the fishermen in this neighbourhood kept one or more of these 

 animals, who were almost as tame as Dogs, and of great use 

 in fishing ; sometimes driving the shoals into the nets, some- 

 times bringing out the large fish with their teeth. I was much 

 pleased and interested with the sight. It has always been a 

 fancy of mine that the poor creatures whom we waste and per- 

 secute to death, for no cause but the gratification of our cruelty, 

 might by reasonable treatment be made the sources of abun- 

 ant amusement and advantage to us.' This interesting account 

 justifies the conclusion drawn by the good prelate from the 

 scene that so much delighted him, that * the simple Hindoo 

 shows here a better taste and judgment than half the Otter 

 hunting and Badger baiting gentry of England.' With such 

 instances as these before us, there seems to be no reason why 

 this animal, so tractable and docile as it is proved to be, should 

 not be very generally domesticated for the purposes of sport, 

 or employed by fishermen as a means of assisting them in their 

 calling. 



'' The method which has been recommended to train them for 

 this purpose is as follows : — They should be procured as young 

 as possible, and they are at first fed with small fish and water. 

 Then bread and milk is to be alternated with the fish, and the 

 proportion of the former gradually increased till they are led 

 to live entirely on bread and milk. They are then taught to 

 fetch and carry, exactly as Dogs are trained to the same trick ; 

 and when they are brought to do this with ease and docility, a 

 leather fish stuffed with wool is employed for the purpose. They 

 are afterwards exercised with a dead fish, and chastised if they 

 disobey or attempt to tear it : and finally, they are sent into the 

 water after living ones. In this way, although the process is 



