148 THE LIFE STORY OF AN OTTER 



but as they soon cried to be fed, for fear their 

 plaints might betray them she carried them back 

 to the nest, and there, lulled by the sob of the 

 restless tide, she at length dropped off to sleep. 



She might have slept for two hours when the 

 clamour of sea- fowl awakened her and brought 

 her in haste to the edge of the clitter, where the 

 otter was already on his feet gazing at a flock of 

 gulls, whose excited movements showed they 

 were over fish. Whilst they looked the shoal 

 disappeared, and the gulls dispersed — like the 

 wonderful scouts they are — to watch for its return 

 to the surface. The instant the birds congregated 

 over an agitated patch of water between the 

 clitter and the Seal Rock the eager otters slipped 

 into the sea. Soon they were near enough to 

 distinguish the silvery spoil in the beaks of the 

 birds, and two minutes later they were in the 

 middle of the shoal. 



Luckily the fish were sprats, so small that the 

 otters could eat them without landing, and if 

 the shoal had remained long on the surface the 

 animals would have filled themselves to repletion ; 

 but before they had gobbled down a tithe of 

 what they needed the fish again sought the 

 depths. The otters pursued as far as breath 

 allowed, raising themselves in the water when 



