OTTER'S HAUNTS AND HABITS 



In an article comparing the badger and the otter, 



it says, " The otter, on the other hand, though an 



expert swimmer, is on land nearly as clumsy as his 



cousin the badger." The author of the said article 



can have done little or no otter-hunting, for if he 



had, he would never have made such a foolish 



statement. Despite his webbed feet, the otter 



is built like the weasels, and exhibits a great deal 



of their activity and quickness on land. For this 



reason he is well able to cope with furred and 



feathered quarry. 



Beginning the otter's menu with fish, we find he 



eats salmon, sea trout, trout, and coarse fish. On 



the west of Scotland and in the Hebrides, otters 



live a good deal on the coast, but in the autumn 



they follow the salmon up the streams. Where 



salmon are plentiful and easily secured, otters kill 



a fish, take it ashore, and eat a portion of the 



shoulder only. In the old days in the Highlands, 



when otters were more numerous than they are at 



present, the crofters used regularly to visit the 



otters' landing places, in order to gather the salmon 



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