246 AMPHIBIOUS QUADRUPEDS. 



themselves caught, they go to work with their 

 teeth, and in a few minutes destroy nets of a very 

 considerable value. 



The otter has two different methods of fishing ; 

 the one by catching its prey from the bottom up- 

 ward, the other by pursuing it into some little 

 creek, and seizing it there. In the former case, 

 as this animal has longer lungs than most other 

 quadrupeds, upon taking in a quantity of air it 

 can remain for some minutes at the bottom j and 

 whatever fish passes over at that time is certainly 

 taken j for, as the eyes of fish are placed so as 

 not to see under them, the otter attacks them off 

 their guard from below, and, seizing them at 

 once by the belly, drags them on shore, where it 

 often leaves them untouched, to continue the 

 pursuit for hours together. The other method 

 is chiefly practised in lakes and ponds, where 

 there is no current ; the fish thus taken are rather 

 of the smaller kind, for the great ones will never 

 be driven out of deep water. 



In this manner the otter usually lives during 

 the summer, being furnished with a supply much 

 greater than its consumption j killing for its 

 amusement, and infecting the edges of the lake 

 with quantities of dead fish, which it leaves there 

 as trophies rather of its victory than its necessi- 

 ties. But in winter, when the lakes are frozen 

 over, and the rivers pour with a rapid torrent, the 

 otter is often greatly distressed for provisions, 

 and is then obliged to live upon grass, weeds, and 

 even the bark of trees. It then comes upon land, 

 and, grown courageous from necessity, feeds upon 



