BTE-DAT EEinmSCENCES. 195 



mentality of a third party, but as the incident had not 

 been observed by the inhabitants of the woodman^s 

 cottage hard by, the secret remains in Nature's keeping. 



There are many otters in the river who make their 

 homes under the roots of some large tree growing on 

 the bank, at places where the water is sluggish, whence 

 they seldom sally forth until nightfall makes them less 

 visible to man and fish alike ; yet we have occasionally 

 surprised them in daylight,' for upon hearing our ap- 

 proach they have dropped their prey in our path ; eels 

 we have several times found in this manner, with the 

 soil quite wet around, bearing the footprints of their 

 captors. 



Taking into consideration the number of otters 

 in the river, it is curious that one does not more 

 often find debris from their meals; the evidence of 

 half-consumed fish clearly proves that they do eat 

 salmon when they can get them ; but we are inclined 

 to think that their general food chiefly consists of 

 smaller fish, which are more easily caught, although, 

 naturally, they take pains to leave no traces of depre- 

 dations, which would lead to exposure of their dwelling- 

 places. 



Continuing our stroll we came sharp round a turn 

 and surprised an old heron standing knee-deep, who 

 was in the act of striking something in the water, 

 which he let fall from his beak as he took wing, no 

 doubt mentally resolving that it should be long before 

 he again admitted anyone to such close quarters. 



o2 



