274 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



otter tribe do not lead them to indulge in wanton slaughter. The 

 facts also of the breeding-salmon not having been dispersed, and 

 of the animals' selection of the best-conditioned fish, help to 

 show with what amount of cunning discretion they carry out their 

 concerted plan of attack, and how fastidiously discriminating 

 they are as to the object of it. 



On the occasion of a large spate which took place in December 

 1860, and had reached its height about nine P.M., I happened 

 to be on Kelso Bridge, the moon being at its full, when four 

 otters, two of them half-grown, were dislodged from the drain 

 above mentioned. Observation was attracted to them by the 

 cries of distress, a sound betwixt a whine and a whistle, they 

 gave vent to. All the four were plainly discernible in the moon- 

 light, but the bullet-head of the dog-otter was the most conspi- 

 cuous, and presented, under the circumstances, a supernatural 

 appearance. Unable to stem the current, they were quickly 

 carried down into the Maxwheel Pool, on the banks of which, 

 below Pinnacle Hill, they probably effected a reunion ; but their 

 strange cry was heard above the roaring of the waters for the 

 space of several minutes after the animals themselves were lost 

 sight of. 



In its character as an epicure, the otter has often been talked 

 about, and the otter's bite brought under observation, as a part 

 of the salmon, selected on account of its superior excellence. 

 There is no doubt that invariably, in capturing a large fish, the 

 otter abstracts its first morsel from the shoulder, immediately 

 behind the head of its victim, and continues feeding on from that 

 point until satisfied. But it is not, as affirmed, on account of 

 any superiority or richness distinguishing this portion of the scaly 

 prey that it battens upon it in particular. It does so simply 

 because its instincts direct it to that quarter as the most vulner- 

 able. The weasel tribe, to which the lutra belongs, in fact, all 

 vermin, it may be noted, when they fasten on their live prey, 



