148 THE EAGLE'S BOLDNESS* 



think it was unable to get disengaged. My attendant 

 now soon, finished the affair by giving the otter 

 several violent blows on the head with his paddle. 



There is an explanation due to those' readers who 

 do not understand the nature of both the animals 

 engaged in this contest. The claws of one foot of 

 the assailant had entered so far into the back of its 

 enemy that it was unable to extract them, while the 

 otter, from the slackness of its skin and its extra- 

 ordinary power of twisting itself about, had succeeded 

 in getting hold with its teeth on the upper part of 

 the bird's leg, and so maimed that member as to 

 force it to curtail its flight. Hence their descent 

 into the tree where we found them. I have been 

 informed that there is no part of an otter that you 

 can lay hold of where it cannot turn round and bite 

 you, even if taken up by the extremity of its tail. A 

 badger can punish fearfully with its teeth, but their 

 bite is of the snapping order, and not unlike that of 

 the greyhound, while an otter's grasp resembles that 

 of the bulldog. The strength that the white-headed 

 eagle possesses in its wings must be enormous, for it 

 can lift a large salmon, say a twenty-pounder, from 

 the water, and carry it to its eyrie, or, more remark- 

 able still, do the same with a wild swan. Wilson, 

 the great naturalist, has an admirable word picture 

 of a similar event, the scene of which is laid on one 

 of the great rivers of the Far West. 



