NATURAL HISTORY STUDIES 



deep in the mud. But there may be terrible 

 experiences when the breathing holes in the ice 

 freeze quickly and the otter is imprisoned below, 

 when the parents are tied down by cubs too heavy 

 to carry and not strong enough to travel, when the 

 wild-fowl leave the sealed waters for the shore, 

 when the snow threatens to smother the family. 

 It is only in such straits that the otter, in despera- 

 tion, begins to experiment by nights with the farmer's 

 ducks. This last resource is very restricted, how- 

 ever, and the conditions may prove at last so severe 

 that the mother dies in spite of all her efforts to get 

 food for herself and her offspring. 



Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner, Frome and LonJon 



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