Ground Vermin The Otter. 323 



in the opposite direction, following with extreme ease 

 and elegance and equal, if not superior, rate, the move- 

 ments of the fish whose capture it has in view, 

 until with a sharp, almost lightning-like snap, it seizes 

 its prey across the back and swims complacently to bank 

 or to some favoured boulder or flat surface, where it 

 can conveniently discuss the merits of its finny food. 

 If the fish be a small one it will probably devour nearly 

 the whole, but in the case of larger ones the back 

 portion only is eaten chiefly what might be termed the 

 shoulder, always a succulent and flaky part of either 

 salmon or trout, be these latter big or little. 



The havoc otters make in a well-stocked river is almost 

 incredible, in spite of all that may be said to the contrary. 

 " Facts " (as we often have impressed upon us) " is facts," 

 and facts are generally more conducive to correct opinions 

 than theories on the part of non-followers of the gentle 

 craft. Like their dry land counterpart, the stoat, otters 

 are by no means satisfied with providing a meal, or even 

 a meal and a half, for self and family, but will go on 

 catching and killing until, as a writer in the Field expressed 

 it, " like a sea king of old, their course is strewn with 

 mangled victims." As soon as its appetite is partly 

 satisfied, the otter amuses itself by capturing fish, with 

 which it swims to the bank, and takes a bite or two out 

 of them, causing but little injury to the flesh of the fish 

 itself, and hence salmon and large trout, &c., are often 

 found along the banks of rivers so little gnawed as to be 

 quite fit for food. One argument which has been urged 

 in favour of the otter is that it has a great liking for 



