BY THE EXE. 121 



darkness. Wild as the curlew is in early summer 

 (when there are young birds), he will fly up within a 

 short distance of the wayfarer, whistling, and alight 

 on the burnt, barren surface of the moor. There he 

 stalks to and fro, grey and upright. He looks a large 

 bird so close. His head nods at each step, and every 

 now and then his long bill, curved like a sabre, takes 

 something from the ground. But he is not feeding, he 

 is watching you. He utters his strange, crying whistle 

 from time to time, which draws your attention from 

 the young birds. 



By these rivers of the west otters are still numerous, 

 and are regularly hunted. Besides haunting the rivers, 

 they ascend the brooks, and even the smallest stream- 

 lets, and are often killed a long way from the larger 

 waters. 



There are three things to be chiefly noticed in the 

 otter — first, the great width of the upper nostril ; 

 secondly, the length and sharpness of the hold-fast 

 teeth ; and, thirdly, the sturdiness and roundness of the 

 chest or barrel, expressive of singular strength. The 

 upper nostril is so broad that when the mouth is open 

 the lower jaw appears but a third of its width — a 

 mere narrow streak of jaw, dotted, however, with the 

 sharpest teeth. This distension of the upper jaw and 

 narrowness of the lower gives the impression of relent- 

 less ferocity. His teeth are somewhat catlike, and so 

 is his manner of biting. He forces his teeth to meet 

 through whatever he takes hold of, but then imme- 

 diately repeats the bite somewhere else, not holding 

 what he has, but snapping again and again like a cat, 

 so that his bite is considered even worse than that of 



