THE BOOK OF THE OTTER 



he was hunting on the Kenvy near Abergavenny, 

 the otter came out of the water just before it was 

 killed, made straight at the whip, who was a few 

 yards off his master, shook him savagely by the 

 trousers, and then passed on." 



We have heard people say that an otter makes no 

 splash when diving or otherwise entering the 

 water. Certainly at times he does not make much 

 of a disturbance, for his sinuous body is built for 

 swimming, but when playing in the water, or when 

 hunted, he splashes quite a lot. We were on one 

 occasion watching the mouth of a drain on the river 

 Lune, in which the terriers were baiting an otter. 

 In front of this drain was a row of willow trees. 

 Standing quietly a yard or so to one side of the 

 drain entrance we at last saw the otter show him- 

 self. He stood at the drain mouth sniffing the air, 

 the muscles working his thick " whiskers," giving 

 his face a very puffed out appearance. Hearing 

 or seeing some of the field on the opposite bank of 

 the river he turned round and went back up the 



drain. A fairly long interval elapsed, and we 



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