THE COMPLETE ANGLER 21 



the very breed of those base Otters, they do so much 

 mischief. 



VEN. But what say you to the Foxes of the Nation, 

 would not you as willingly have them destroyed ? for 

 doubtless they do as much mischief as Otters do. 



Pise. Oh, Sir, if they do, it is not so much to 

 me and my fraternity, as those base vermin the 

 Otters do. 



Auc. Why, Sir, I pray, of what fraternity are you, 

 that you are so angry with the poor Otters ? 



Pise. I am, Sir, a brother of the Angle, and therefore 

 an enemy to the Otter : * for you are to note, that we 

 Anglers all love one another, and therefore do I hate 

 the Otter, both for my own and for their sakes who are 

 of my brotherhood. 



VEN. And I am a lover of Hounds ; I have followed 

 many a pack of dogs many a mile, and heard many merry 

 huntsmen make sport and scoff at Anglers. 



Auc. And I profess myself a Falconer, and have 

 heard many grave serious men pity them, it is such a 

 heavy, contemptible, dull recreation. 



Pise. You know, gentlemen, it is an easy thing to 

 scoff at any art or recreation ; a little wit mixed with 

 ill-nature, confidence, and malice, will do it ; but though 

 they often venture boldly, yet they are often caught, 



* The Otter has disappeared from the Lea, and is now rare in all 

 the rivers of the Metropolitan counties. This amphibious animal 

 is destructive to trout and small river fish ; but, strange as it may 

 appear, he proves the conservator of salmon, by destroying trout, 

 the worst enemies of that fish. The Otter cannot, in open water, 

 catch the salmon, who is too fleet for him ; but he sometimes 

 captures that fish in shallow and confined water, more by stratagem 

 than speed. Trout the Otter can run down. He kills them in 

 large numbers, to the delight of the owners of salmon rivers. When 

 salmon are in the act of spawning, they are surrounded by trout, 

 hungering after the ova, the greater portion of which they would 

 devour were they not beaten off by one or other of the breeding 

 salmon. Trout, moreover, feed voraciously on salmon-fry, so that 

 by destroying them the Otter does good service to salmon-fishing. 

 E. 



