G6 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



for its mate with untiring perseverance ; and if one be 

 caught in a trap, its companion will run round and 

 round, endeavouring to set it free, on which occasions, 

 though so quiet at other times, they make a snorting 

 and blowing like a horse.' 



A dog belonging to the above gentleman was run- 

 ning and splashing through the shallow water, and 

 suddenly stood still, sometimes whining, as if caught in 

 a trap, and then biting furiously at something in the 

 water. He was called by his master, but as he did not 

 obey, his master waded to him, and found a large otter 

 holding on by his powerful jaws to the dog's shoulder ; 

 and had he not had a good covering of curly hair, he 

 stood a chance of having his leg broken, the bite was 

 so severe. 



The people in Scotland believe that the otters have 

 a king or leader, which is larger than others, and 

 spotted with white. They also believe that when these 

 animals are killed, a man, or another of the brute kind, 

 dies suddenly at the same moment ; that their skin 

 possesses an antidote to infection, preserves soldiers 

 from wounds, and saves sailors from disasters at sea. 

 The darkness in which otters delight, their watery 

 habitations, their oily, noiseless movements, and their 

 dark fur, invest them with mystery in the eyes of the 

 peasantry in many parts of England. 



The emigration of otters is established by the follow- 

 ing fact : ' A labourer going to his work, soon after 

 five o'clock in the morning, saw a number of animals 

 coming towards him, and stood quietly by the hedge 

 till they came alongside of him. He then perceived 

 four old otters, probably dams, and about twenty 

 young ones. He took a stick out of the hedge and, 



