NATURE NEAR LONDON JBS 



And may I say a word for the Thames otter? 

 The list of really wild animals now existing in the 

 home counties is so very, very short, that the ex- 

 termination of one of them seems a serious loss. 

 Every effort is made to exterminate the otter. No 

 sooner does one venture down the river than traps, 

 gins, nets, dogs, prongs, brickbats, every species 

 of missile, all the artillery of vulgar destruction, 

 are brought against its devoted head. Unless my 

 memory serves me wrong, one of these creatures 

 caught in a trap not long since was hammered to 

 death with a shovel or a pitchfork. 



Now the river fox is, we know, extremely de- 

 structive to fish, but what are a basketful of " bait " 

 compared to one otter ? The latter will certainly 

 never be numerous, for the moment they become 

 so, otter-hounds would be employed, and then we 

 should see some sport. Londoners, I think, 

 scarcely recognise the fact that the otter is one of 

 the last links between the wild past of ancient 

 England and the present days of high civilisation. 



The beaver is gone, but the otter remains, and 

 comes so near the mighty City as just the other 

 side of the well-known Lock, the portal through 

 which a thousand boats at holiday time convey 

 men and women to breathe pure air. The por- 

 poise, and even the seal it is said, ventures to 

 Westminster sometimes; the otter to Kingston. 

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