like an Otter in miniature. I was 





LETTER VII. 



^K^^^lp 

 very much surprised at his power of endurance. 

 Whenever he rose towards the surface, he saw the dog's nose 

 suspended over the spot where he was about to 

 rise, and down he would dive again to 

 the depths of the pool. 

 Becoming a little ex- 

 hausted at last, the dog 

 dived down after him and killed 

 him. You meet with rats in 

 the most out-of-the-way 

 situations. I have taken 

 in traps set for birds among the 

 hills, and once upon a small island in the middle of a loch. The 

 island is quite bare, and not larger than a table ; so he must have 

 swum out there on a voyage of discovery. 



A few months ago I took a Mallard in a trap, as he was 

 frequenting a spot where I could not get near him. When he 

 made, in due time, his appearance at table, we found several grains 

 of No. 3 quite inside his body, which 

 seemed to have been 

 there a 



