THE TAME OTTER. 117 



was attached, it was frequently taken to the river, where it never 

 failed to catch fish, first driving them, after the manner of a collie 

 with a flock of sheep, into the nearest pool in which there was a 

 considerable depth of water, when he pounced upon them with the 

 agility of a wild cat, and seldom failed to secure two or three of 

 the best and biggest fish in the shoal ere they could manage to 

 escape. We were assured, however, that the best place to see the 

 otter at work was not the river, but one of the moorland lochs, in 

 the depths of which he was perfectly at home. Here he exhibited 

 the most astonishing feats of agility in pursuit of his prey ; his 

 activity and matchless swimming powers being backed by a per- 

 tinacity and cunning that left neither trout nor pike much chance 

 of escape. Having marked out and selected the fish to be captured, 

 it was observed that he stuck to it with the staunchness of a well- 

 trained hound through all its doublings and windings, as if for 

 the moment the loch contained none but it, until he had fairly run it 

 down ; the capture generally taking place among the reeds that 

 bordered the margin of the mere, into which the fish always rushed 

 on becoming sensible that its adversary was not to be eluded in 

 open water. If left to himself, it was remarked that the otter was 

 somewhat dainty and fastidious of taste, rarely eating more of a 

 captured fish than a little at the back of the head and about the 

 pectoral fins, when, after a short rest, he was ready to start in 

 pursuit of another. If this be the habit of otters in their wild 

 state as there is reason to believe it is one can fancy how terribly 

 destructive to fish they must be, killing ten times more than they 

 actually eat, and these, too, the best and biggest fish they can meet 

 with in their depredations. Even a single pair of otters, with a 

 family to rear, must be a terrible scourge on any river they may 

 select to honour with their attentions for a season ; nor is the 

 marine otter, we may be sure such as we saw the other day less 

 destructive when he takes up his residence in the vicinity of 



