AN INSECURE HOVER 23 



Trout after trout they caught and devoured 

 along the winding reaches leading to the long, 

 sullen pool in the midst of the moor, where the 

 mother, elated by their success, joined merrily in 

 their gambols, which were kept up until past the 

 usual hovering-time. 



Day was on them when they landed and 

 sought the most inviting couches the bank 

 offered. First the cubs wormed themselves out 

 of sight, then the otter ; and so effectually were 

 all three concealed amongst the rocks and 

 heather that a kestrel, hovering over the spot, 

 failed to get a glimpse of their brown forms, 

 and flew on without a suspicion of their presence. 

 Nevertheless, the open bank, though it had a 

 marshy tract on one side and a deep pool on the 

 other, was an insecure lodging, so that it was 

 only because the moorland afforded no better 

 that they returned thither on the morrow. After 

 that the otter, jealous for the cubs' safety, made 

 some five miles downstream, where the holts 

 amongst the roots of withy and alder were strong 

 and sheltered from the rain that had rendered 

 the upland hovers so uncomfortable on the 

 second day. It is true the trout were scarce, 

 but this mattered little to the otters, for eels, 

 their favourite prey, were abundant. Amongst 



