128 MORE ABOUT THE OTTER 
what looks at first sight like a bit of the low bank 
crumbling before falling into the water. A second look 
tells me, however, that it is something different ; earth 
falls down into the water, whereas this supposed clod of 
earth has tumbled up so to speak, on to the meadow. 
So closely did his fur fall in with the tone of the bank 
that if he had remained there stretched out he would 
certainly have escaped notice. He is only a very few 
moments in sight and, as is too often the case when 
something worth seeing is to the front, I have left my 
glasses at home. An instinctive dive of the hands to 
both pockets, and words are muttered that would not 
look pretty in print. Light flashes from his fur catch 
my eye as he moves through the meadow in a direc- 
tion that is very familiar to me ; then I lose sight of 
him. He is making for a faggot-stack belonging to 
one of the cottagers on the estate one whose cottage 
is unpleasantly near the river at flood times. The 
stacks of faggots and cord-wood, as a rule, are at 
some distance from the dwellings. Cord-wood is the 
smaller limbs of oak, the lop and top of the branches 
when the trees are felled. The largest pieces are 
placed on the ground crossways ; on these the faggots 
are laid lengthways, and upon this foundation the 
stack is built. Then it is very roughly thatched with 
spray stuff. Air can get through it and it is soon 
