66 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



The otter is a fighter. One day I came upon 

 records in the snow far from the water that 

 showed he had walked into a wild-cat ambush. 

 The extensively trampled snow told that the 

 desperate contest had been a long one. The 

 cat was left dead, and the otter had left two 

 pressed and bloody spaces in the snow where he 

 had stopped to dress his wounds on the way 

 to the river. On another occasion the fierceness 

 of the otter was attested to by two coyotes that 

 nearly ran over me in their flight after an as- 

 sault on the rear guard of a band of overland 

 otter emigrants. 



Probably the only animal that enters a beaver 

 pond that gives the beaver any concern is the 

 otter. One morning I had glimpses of a battle 

 in a beaver pond between a large invading otter 

 and numerous home-defense beavers. Most 

 of the fighting was under water, but the pond 

 was roiled and agitated over a long stretch, be- 

 ginning where the attack commenced and ex- 

 tending to the incoming brook, where the 

 badly wounded otter made his escape. 



Both beaver and otter can remain under 

 water for minutes, and during this time put forth 

 their utmost and most effective efforts. Several 

 times during this struggle the contestants came 

 up where they could breathe. Twice when the 

 otter appeared he was at it with one large bea- 



