382 THE OTTER. 
The Badger is very susceptible of human influence, and can be effectually tamed with 
but little Pane It is generally set down as a stupid animal, but in reality i 1s possessed 
of considerable powers of reasoning. One of these animals has been known to set at 
defiance all the traps that were intended for its capture, and to devour the baits without 
suffering for its temerity. On one occasion, the animal was watched out of its burrow, 
and a number of traps set round the orifice, so that its capture appeared to be tolerably 
certain. But when the Badger returned to its domicile, it set at nought all the devices of 
the enemy, and by dint of jumping over some of the traps and rolling over others, gained 
its home in safety. 
The colours of the Badger are grey, black, and white, which are rather curiously 
distributed. The head is white, with the exception of a rather broad and very definitely 
marked black line on each side, commencing near the snout and ending at the neck, 
including the eye and the ear in its course. The body is of a reddish-grey, changing to a 
white-grey on the ribs and tail. The throat, chest, abdomen, legs and feet are of deep 
blackish-brown. The average length of the Badger is two feet six inches, and its height 
at the shoulder eleven inches. 
ALTHOUGH by no means a large animal, the OTTER has attained a universal reputation 
as a terrible and persevering foe to fish. Being possessed of a very discriminating palate, 
and invariably choosing the finest fish that can be found in the locality, the Otter i is the 
object of the profoundest hate to the proprietors of streams and by all human fishermen. 
Tt is so dainty an animal that it will frequently kill several fish, devouring only those 
portions which best please its palate, and leaving the remainder on the Wels to become 
the prey of rats, birds, or other fish-loving creatures. 
When the Otter is engaged in eating the fish which it has captured, it holds the 
shppery prey between its fore- -paws, and, beginning with the back of the neck, eats away 
the flesh from the neck towards the tail, rejecting the head, tail, and other portions. In 
well-stocked rivers, the Otter is so extremely fastidious that it will catch and kill four or 
five good fish in a single day, and eat nothing but -the fine flaky meat which is found on 
the shoulders. The neighbouring rustics take advantage of this epicurean propensity, 
and make many a me sal upon the fish which have been discarded by the dainty Otter. 
Sometimes, as in the very dry or the very cold seasons, the Otter is forced to lay aside its 
fastidious notions, and is glad to find an opportunity of appeasing its hunger with any 
kind of animal food. Driven by hunger, the Otter has been known to travel overland 
for five or six miles, and is sometimes so hardly pressed that it will have recourse to 
vegetable substances in default of its usual animal food. In such trying seasons, the Otter is 
too apt to turn its attention to the farmyard, and to become very destructive to poultry of 
all kinds, to young pigs, and lambs. One of these animals was captured in a rabbit- 
warren, whither it had evidently wandered with the intention of feeding on the rabbits. 
For the pursuit of its finny prey the Otter is admirably adapted by nature. The body is 
lithe and serpentine ; the feet are furnished with a broad web that connects the toes, and is 
of infinite service in propelling the animal through the water; the tail is long, broad, and 
flat, proving a powerful and effectual rudder by which its movements are directed ; 4 and the 
short, powerful legs are so loosely joimted that the animal can turn them in almost any 
direction. The hair which covers the body and limbs is of two kinds, the one a close, 
fine, and soft fur, which lies next the skin and serves to protect the animal from the 
extremes of heat and cold, and the other composed of long, shining, and coarser hairs, 
which permit the animal to glide easily through the water. The teeth are sharp and 
strong, and of great service in preventing the slippery prey from escaping. 
The colour of the Otter varies slightly according to the light in which it is viewed, 
but is generally of a rich brown tint, intermixed w ith whitish- erey. This colour is lighter 
along the back and the outside of the legs than on the other parts of the body, which are 
of a paler greyish hue. Its habitation is made in the bank of the river which it frequents, 
and is rather inartificial in its character, as the creature is fonder of occupying some 
natural crevice or deserted excavation than of digging a burrow for itself. The nest of the 
Otter is composed of dry rushes, flags, or other aquatic plants, and is purposely placed as 
