OTTER AND MOORHEN n 



for a rise down the river when a moorhen sprang 

 out of the water on to a fallen tree, and an otter 

 followed her closely he had caught her by the 

 tail and she had fluttered up on to the tree; he 

 ran along the tree and up one of the branches, 

 but the bird got away, leaving some of her tail 

 feathers in his mouth. Seeing me, he made a 

 sudden dive from the branch into the water with 

 a great splash and disappeared. For me it was 

 a new fact in natural history, for I had always 

 thought otters confined their diet to fish in the 

 water." 



The fact was new to me also, but, nevertheless, 

 it may be perfectly true that otters are not so 

 limited in their taste if moorhens, then duck- 

 lings and goslings may sometimes serve to whet 

 their appetites. " Those villainous vermin," says 

 Izaak Walton. " I hate them perfectly because 

 they love fish so well, or, rather, because they 

 destroy so much." 



Here it was, near this tree, that I saw this 

 same tailless moorhen with half a dozen little 

 black chicks floating about; on seeing me she 

 flew across the river and began clucking for the 

 young ones to follow, but for them it was no 

 easy task ; the river they had to cross was rushing 

 down in a mighty stream, and I was curious to 

 see how these little week-old birds would manage 

 it. It was really wonderful to see how the little 

 mites, one after the other, stemmed the torrent. 



