NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



Otters are by no means such enormously destructive 

 animals in a fishery as they are so often alleged to be 

 — unless, that is to say, they infest small and confined 

 waters, where the fish have little chance of escape. 

 There, of course, a family or two of otters might wreak 

 great havoc and soon clear a stream. They will, of 

 course, devour coarse fish and even trout and salmon, 

 but their diet consists largely of eels and frogs. In 

 the case of fish the beast usually begins to devour his 

 prey at the shoulder, while if an eel is captured he 

 proceeds from the vent towards the head. There is no 

 finer swimmer among the mammalia than this singular 

 creature. It uses its limbs, it is true, like other four- 

 footed beasts, but ages of a watery environment have 

 so developed its powers under water that the whole of 

 the frame, legs, tail, and lithe body, are brought into 

 play, the result being that the animal in its course can 

 scarcely be distinguished from a salmon, or other large 

 fish, even by men well acquainted with its habits. 

 Its speed, endurance, and diving powers are truly 

 wonderful. 



These animals vary a good deal in weight. A dog 

 otter, shot in Essex, on the River Stour, in 1897, scaled 

 29! lbs., and measured 4 ft. 3^^ ins. from nose to tip of 

 tail. A fair-sized male otter will weigh from 20 lbs. to 

 25 lbs., the female some pounds less. 



Some curious customs seem to have been in vogue 

 in connection with otter-hunting in former days. In 

 1796, near Bridgnorth, on the River Worse, I read, in 

 an old sporting book, "four otters were killed; one 

 stood three, another four hours before the dogs, and 

 was scarcely a minute out of sight. The hearts, etc., 

 were eaten by many respectable people, who attended 

 the hunt, and allowed to be very delicious ; the car- 

 casses were also eaten by the men employed, and found 



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