268 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



couragement to otters on a salmon -river, and would lead me to 

 infer that it is against the salar, in particular, they direct their 

 hunting propensities. I cannot, however, subscribe to any such 

 conclusion. With Mr. Young, I agree that the otter does not 

 instinctively and habitually persecute or molest the salmon. It 

 gives the preference, as far as its fish-diet is concerned, to much 

 humbler fare, and it is only on occasions when the latter is not 

 to be got that it will give chase to higher game. Where I 

 directly differ from him is, as to the fresh-water trout being its 

 favourite food, and the pursuit of it its favourite occupation. 



Otters, as I have stated, so far from having become scarce 

 among our Border rivers, are, owing in a great measure to the 

 increased drainage, more abundant than they ever were; and, 

 what may be held singular by those who look upon them as of a 

 retiring, unsocial disposition, their chief haunts are not among 

 the uplands and pastoral districts, but in the vicinity of towns 

 and large villages. Thus, in the neighbourhood of Galashiels, 

 the southern bank of that portion of Tweed which has its lye a 

 short way above Abbotsford, known among salmon-fishers as the 

 Glenmain Pool, is noted as a resort of this animal. The fisher- 

 man Geddes, employed on the Boldside casts, can speak as to 

 the otters in that locality, being an expert trapper, and having 

 in his day dealt no little damage to the breed. Farther down 

 the river, in the vicinity, of Melrose, and especially about the 

 heights of Bemerside and Old Melrose, I have seldom failed to 

 observe their tracks. Approaching Kelso, the Maxton, Kuther- 

 ford, and Makerston waters give constant proof of their attach- 

 ment to these sections of Tweed. The Elshie stream, in par- 

 ticular, is associated with their piscatorial raids. 



Old Rob Kerss, a well-known character, the genius of the 

 Trow Crags, whose like on our Border river, or elsewhere, we 

 shall never, I fear, look upon again, allowed every latitude to this 

 sly ' rascal,' in the way of picking up a stray fish. Now and 



