196 THE COMMON OTTER. 



ing upward to the surface of the earth, where it 

 forms a minute orifice for the admission of air. He 

 adds, that the more effectually to conceal its re- 

 treat, the animal often contrives to make this little 



air-hole in the middle of some thick bush *. 







The Otter is a cunning, and at the same time an 

 exceedingly ferocious animal. Whenever it is 

 attacked, it will defend itself with courage and 

 vigour to the last. An Otter, without knowing it, 

 passed near a gentleman who was angling for trout 

 in the river Wandle. The gentleman unscrewed the 

 butt end of his fishing-rod, and struck it, with all 

 his might, on the head. The animal in a moment 

 turned upon him, and fought with the greatest 

 ferocity; nor was it at last killed without con- 

 siderable danger. 



It is possible, however, when the Otter is caught 

 young, to render it nearly as docile and domestic as 

 a Dog. There was an Otter, in J775, at the abbey at 

 Autun, in France, in a perfect state of domestication. 

 It was a female, and had been reared with milk from 

 the time it was caught, till it was about two months 

 old, when it was fed on soup, fish, and other food 

 used in the convent. It would come to any person 

 who called it by its name, and would play with a 

 Dog and Cat with which it had been early acquaint- 

 ed ; but it exhibited symptoms of the greatest dis- 



Penn. Brit. Zool. i. p. 94. 



like 





