MORE ABOUT THE OTTER 131 
places. Our otter was shot in the very act of secur- 
ing a bird for himself. 
This sort of thing he is guilty of now and again, 
not often ; he is driven to it by force of circum- 
stances, for which due allowance ought to be made. 
No such thing as an unmixed blessing has come under 
my notice as yet ; and that the otter is in his proper 
sphere and beneficial to the waters he frequents, I have 
not the least doubt. Of course, I am not writing 
from the trout-preserver's point of view, but simply as 
a naturalist. 
Various local arrangements, and I believe notably 
the food supply, affect the variety in the colour of the 
otter's fur. Some, I am aware, hardly agree with 
me as to this. It is a very easy matter for him to 
get a rabbit at certain seasons. I have drifted down 
a narrow woodland river, with high banks on either 
side, in hard, frosty weather, when a fringe of ragged 
ice was hanging to the edge of the shore, and seen the 
rabbits sitting close to the edge half asleep. They 
did not move, although I was not more than two 
yards away from them. Nothing more easy than for 
the otter to glide down the bank right down on to the 
rabbit and to grip him. There is no reasoning with 
an empty stomach. The moor-hen at such times 
clucks and paddles a few yards away from the water's 
