( 8L ) 



Idlling the atlnlts, may in time eventuate in a tlecreasn of a 

 breed of animals, even in India. 



LX> XII. Otters do an immensity of injury in some 

 rivers, especially in those of hilly 



otterBKsve™u>. dkincts ; and when they have ex- 



hausted i he fish, some tarn their attention to frogs. Along 

 the Ilimrtlayas they abound, but at Gurwal are reported not 

 to destroy fish in the proportion man does, and olfering 

 sulTicient rewards wouht be very expensive (p. clviii). In 

 Jhansi tiiey are included amongst the real enemies to fish 

 (p. clxvi), and that they destroy the largo ones in tlie deep 

 pools of tlie rivers (p. clxvii). In Kumaon they are said to do 

 some little injury (p. civ), also in Malabar and elsewhere; 

 but until the more serious evil of standing fishing weirs and 

 traps are dealt with, perhaps the otters might be left alone. 

 An otter is not a fair eater : he prefers fish, but being an 

 epicure, he liiuits himself to their most tasty portions, of 

 which he takes a few mouthfuls, and, returning to the Avater, 

 repeats the operation. Where fisheries are protected, and 

 not wastefully fished, these animals would certainly form 

 good objects for rewards : thus, amongst the excellent rules 

 proposed by the Dehra Doon Association, exists one of rewards 

 for otters. In Malabar otters form an article of food to 

 some of the lower castes. 



LXXXIII. There are other vermin destructive to fish, 

 . , ■ , , •„ ^ , ^^it for which I do not propose any 



Miuor veruiiu wliicli kill fish. iiiii a^ ii.i 



rewards should be onered ; there are 

 birds of many sorts too numerous to mention in this place. 

 Likewise snakes, which luxuriate in irrigation canals, and 

 revel at large weirs. At the Upper Coleroon weir, as the freshes 

 began to subside, and only a little water was joassing over the 

 apron, I could plainly perceive them Avatchiug to capture the 

 fish which were vainly endeavouring to ascend. I should 

 imagine that I never saw less than twenty every evening on 

 the down-stream face of this weir. I was present when the 

 water was cut ofi" from the Eastern Jumna Canal, and num- 

 bers of large snakes wei-e then to be seea. Toi'tuises and 

 turtles likewise are fish-consumers, whilst predaceotis fishes 

 prey on their weaker neighbours, amongst which fresh- 

 water sharks are frequently mentioned as at (pp. civ, clxvi). 

 Near Ganjam an oilicial informed me that he went out one 

 night to see how murrul, Ophiocephaliis striatus, Bloch., 

 were captured. The native fisherman had provided himself 

 with a long flexible bamboo as a rod, whilst his houk was 



