Craft, xx. Taming Otters, 263 



■• patriarch, Erom its teeth, [hope Borne day t<> hoar of a salmon being 

 "presented to Mr. Bnokland'e Museum of Eoonomic Pish Coltare, 

 •• killed by Mr. H*s. otter."— P. 11. S.u.vix. 



The more thoroughly to convince my reader of the practica- 

 bility of utilizing tin- otter for sport, I add still another exti 

 which is taken from " The English Cyi lopadia." 



"But it must not Ik- supposed that the common otter is, as it has 

 " been asserted, confined to the fresh waters. 



" That the common otter is capable of domestication and attachment 

 " we have ample testimony. Albertus Magnus, Aldrovandus, Gesner, 

 " and others attest this. Every angler will remember the passage in 

 " Walton, where good Mi'. I'iseator is anxious to possess himself of 

 " one of the young otters which the huntsman, after the death of the 

 " ' bitch otter ' had found : — ' Look you,' says the huntsman, ' here- 

 " " al' rats it was she kennelled ; look you, here it was. indeed, for here's 

 " ' her young ones, no less than five ; come, let's kill them all.' ' No,' 

 "exclaims Piseator, 'I pray, Sir, save me one. and I'll try if I can 

 " ' make her tame, as I know an ingenious gentleman in Leicester- 

 "'shire, Mr. Nich. Seagrave, has done; who hath not only made 

 " ' her tame, but to catch fish, and do many other things at pleasure.' 

 " Buffon, who could be as hard of belief in some points as he was 

 " credulous in others, disbelieves the otter's capability for domesti- 

 " cation. The testimony above noticed has been confirmed by a cloud 

 "of modern witnesses. Goldsmith mentions an otter which went 

 '• into a gentleman's pond at the word of command, drove the fish 

 " up into a corner, and having seized on the largest, brought it out 

 " of the water to its master. Daniel, Bewik, Shaw record instances 

 "of the animal's docility in this way. Mr. Bill ami Mr. Macgillvray 

 "both corroborate the fact. The latter has collected the following 

 "anecdotes: — 'Mr. M'Diannid, in his amusing "Sketches from 

 " ' Nature," gives an account of several domesticated otters, one of 

 " ' which, belonging to a poor widow, when led forth plunged into the 

 " ■ [Jrr, or the neighbouring burns, and brought out all the fish it could 

 "' find. Another, kept at Corsbie house, Wigtone hire, evinced a great 

 " 'fondness for gooseberries, fondled about her keeper's feet like a pup 

 " 'or kitten, and even seemed inclined to salute her (heck, when per- 

 " ' mitted to carry her freedoms so far. A third, belonging to Mr. 

 " • Montcith of Carstairs, was also very tame, and though he frequently 

 " ' stole away at night to fish by the pale light of the moon, and 

 " 'associate with his kindred by the riverside, his master, of course, 



