264 Tin Tame Otter. Chapt. XX. 



" ' was too generous to find any fault with his peculiar mode of 

 " ' spending his evening hours. In the morning he was always at 

 " ' his post in the kennel, and no animal understood better the secret 

 " ' of keeping his own side of the house. Indeed, his pugnacity in 

 " ' this respect gave him a great lift in the favour of the game- 

 " ' keeper, who talked of his feats wherever he went, and avowed, 

 " 'besides, that if the best cur that ever ran "only daured to girn " 

 " 'at his protege, he would soon " mak his teeth meet through him." 

 " ' To mankind, however, he was much more civil, and allowed himself 

 " ' to be gently lifted by the tail, though he objected to any inter- 

 " ' ferance with his snout, which is probably with him the seat of 

 "'honour.' They are, however, dangerous pets, for, if offended, they 

 " will bite grievously. 



" L. Nair,* has the fur deep-chesnut, lightest on the sides ; lower 

 ' part of the neck and cheeks, as well as the throat, reddish bright- 

 ' brown ; above the eye a ruddy yellow or yellowish-white spot. 



" This is the Nir-nayie of the people of Pondicherry, and is probably 

 ' the species seen by Bishop Heber, who passed a row of nine or ten 

 ' large and very beautiful otters, tethered with straw collars and long 

 ' strings to bamboo stakes on the banks of the Matta Colly. ' Some 

 ' ' were swimming about at the full extent of their strings, or laying 

 ' ' half in and half out of the water ; others were rolling themselves 

 ' ' in the sun on the sandy bank, uttering a shrill whistling noise as if 

 ' ' in play. I was told that most of the fishermen in this neighbourhood 

 ' ' kept one or more of these animals, who were almost as tame as dogs, 

 ' ' and of great use in fishing, sometimes driving the shoals into the 

 ' ' nets, sometimes bringing out the larger fish with their teeth.' 

 ' Another proof, if any were wanting, of the feasibility of taming these 

 • animals and rendering them useful to man." 



Of a different species of otter the writer of this article 

 continues : — 



" D'Azara further states that a neighbour of his purchased a young 

 " whelp, which at six months old was 34 inches long. It was 

 " permitted to run loose about the house, and was fed with fish, flesh, 

 " bread, mandioca, and other food, but it preferred fish. It would 

 " walk into the street and return, knew the people of the house, came 

 '' when called by name, and would follow them like a dog, but its short 



" The common otter of Europe is Lutru vulgaris. 



