CHAP. xxii. The Tame Otter. m 333 



others were rolling themselves in thesun on the sandy bank, uttering a 

 shrill whistling noise as if in play. I was told that most of the fishermen in 

 this neighbourhood kept one or more of these animals, who were almost as 

 tame as dogs, and of great use in fishing, sometimes driving the shoals into 

 the nets, sometimes bringing out the larger fish with their teeth.' Another 

 proof, if any were wanting, of the feasibility of taming these animals and 

 rendering them useful to man." 



Of a different species of otter the writer of this article continues : 



" D'Azara further states that a neighbour of his purchased a young 

 whelp, which at six months old was 34 inches long. It was permitted to 

 run loose about the house, and was fed with fish, flesh, bread, mandioca, 

 and other food, but it preferred fish. It would walk into the street and 

 return, knew the people of the house, came when called by name, and would 

 follow them like a dog, but its short legs soon failed it, and it soon grew 

 weary. It would amuse itself with dogs and cats as well as with their 

 masters ; but it was a rough play-fellow, and required to be treated 

 cautiously, for it bit sharply. It never harmed poultry or any other animal 

 excepting sucking-pigs, which were not safe within its reach, and it would 

 have killed them if it had not been prevented. It entered all the rooms, and 

 slept always below the bed, was very very cleanly, and always visited one 

 particular spot for the deposit of its excrements." 



Lastly, I must give the reader an extract from our eminent Indian 

 Naturalist Jerdon's work on " The Mammals of India," where he treats 

 of " The common Indian Otter," which he calls Lutra nair : 



" Accepting the synonymy as above,* then, this otter is found throughout 

 all India, from the extreme South and Ceylon, to the foot of the Himalayas, 

 and from the Indus to Burmah and Malayana, frequenting alike rivers and 



* Fam. Mustelidce, Weasels and Martens. Lutra Nair. 



F. Cuvier L. chinensis and L. india ; Gray L. tarayensis ; Hodgson Elliot, 

 Cat 15. Blyth, Cat 214. Pani-kuta, H. ; Nir-nai, Can. ; Neeru-kuka, Tel. ; all 

 signifying water-dog Jal Manjer, Mahr., i.e. water-cat. Ud or Hud, Udni 

 Udbillau, Hindi. 



The Common Indian Otter. 



" Description. Above hair brown, or light chestnut-brown, in same grizzled with 

 hoary tips, in others with a tinge of isabella yellow ; beneath yellowish-white, or 

 reddish-white ; upper lips, sides of head and neck, chin, and throat, whitish, the 

 line of separation between the two colours more or less distinctly marked ; in some 

 the throat tinged with orange-brown ; paws, albescent in some, simply of a lighter 

 shade in others ; tail, brown beneath. F. Cuvier, in his description, mentions some 



