THE OTTER. 7 



deadliest foe to the eel, which is in turn the deadliest 

 enemy to the trout-angler, as eels will prove more harmful 

 to a trout-stream by destroying the spawn than the otters 

 will do by killing the fish ; in fact, Mr. Collier says if 

 he owned a trout-stream he would never allow an otter 

 hound on it. An " Old Friend of the Otter " writes : 

 " I have opened forty-five hunted otters, and many of them 

 killed before six o'clock in the morning, and only found in 

 two any parts of fish about three inches long, and when 

 their stomachs were cleaned in running water I found it 

 was eel ; and I feel sure their food is the eel ; but in the 

 spring of the year eels being deep in the mud, they may 

 catch an occasional kelt and suck a little of the blood out 

 of its shoulders. I would say to any gentleman, If you 

 wish trout to be plentiful, preserve the otter and he 

 will eat the eel, who lives upon fish-spawn, especially the 

 trout's." 



The following is taken from the Field of May 7, 1887 : 

 " In his report on the upper waters of the Severn, made to 

 the Fishery Conservators last week, Mr. George has brought 

 a most serious charge against the otters which frequent that 

 district, in the statement that, of 250 salmon found dead, 

 ninety-nine had been killed by otters, thirty-six by disease, 

 and the cause of death of the remainder could not be 

 ascertained. For many years I observed and studied the 

 habits of the otter in confinement as well as in its natural 

 state, and my opportunities for so doing were unusually 

 favourable, living, as I have done for a quarter of a century, 

 by the banks of a river where otters were far from a rarity, 

 and fish numerous enough. During the whole of that 

 time, a great portion of which was spent by the river- side, 

 I do not remember to have seen more than one salmon 

 whose death could actually be ascribed to an otter, and the 

 remains of a trout similarly destroyed I never observed. 

 Relics of roach, that when in life had become the prey of 

 the otter, were common enough ; portions of eels, which 

 had no doubt been similarly treated, were occasionally 

 found ; and the droppings of the otter, as a rule, contained 

 the bones and scales of small fish, the shells of the river 



