go Otters and Otter-Hunting. 



dog-Otter that persisted in taking the preserved 

 prawns off their hooks. Another knows of a nest of 

 young Otters in a tree-top three miles up-stream. A 

 third will tell him that a certain island — generally 

 in her own homeward direction — " simply swarms " 

 with Otters. I have been told all these tales and 

 many as absurd in perfect good faith. Nor are the 

 men much better. Keepers will have seen two Otters 

 fighting in broad daylight; boys will say that an 

 Otter has climbed into their father's punt and 

 attacked them savagely ; the miller has had several 

 playing about on his lawn for weeks past ; and the 

 number that the average angler sees in a season 

 would stock all the rivers in the land ! Most of all 

 these good people are not deliberately lying : they 

 simply do not know an Otter when they see it, and 

 would probably not see one if it were present. 



But the Master must listen to all these efforts of 

 the imagination without any appearance of scepti- 

 cism, if he would not make enemies galore. Some 

 such answer as " Well, we'll try and find him for 

 you to-day," or '' Good! we must thin 'em out a 

 bit," or something polite and non-committal of this 

 sort, will usually meet the case. But he will be 

 lucky if he do not get an absolutely blank day if 

 there are many such narratives current at the meet. 

 The Otter is proverbially shy, and, wisely careful 

 of his reputation, seems to dislike being " talked 



