Otters. 



221 



facility with which otters can be tamed and trained 

 and domesticated has led to no end of stories of otters 

 becoming the cunning and helpful mates of poachers ; 

 and it is said that in old days not seldom the residents 

 near a stream where an otter worked winked at his 

 depredations, and hid the fact of his existence, because 

 they knew where they could always find a good meal 

 by going and taking the portions of the salmon which 

 he had rejected and left on the banks. 



Later reports the result of what claims to be closer 

 observation go to give the poor otter a somewhat 

 better character. A writer in the Fishing Gazette in 

 the beginning of the year (1893) stood up for him, 

 declaring that he was more the angler's friend than 

 many would credit. "Whilst we write," he says, "we 

 have in our mind a little river in our own neighbour- 

 hood, than which for its size there is not a better in 

 the kingdom as a trout stream; and yet this river, 

 figuratively speaking, actually swarms with otters. . . . 



