OTTER'S HAUNTS AND HABITS 



pheasants, and duck having been killed by them. 

 One or two instances of this will suffice. In " The 

 Natural History of Sport in Scotland," by Tom 

 Speedy, the latter says : " That he can scent and 

 pounce upon his prey like a fox was demonstrated 

 by following his tracks among snow up Corrie 

 Macshee Burn at Dalnaspidal. The trail left the 

 water-side and showed where the animal had made 

 a bound and caught a grouse in its roosting-place 

 among the snow. Returning to the stream, he had 

 crossed on to a boulder in the centre of the burn, 

 where he devoured part of his prey." The same 

 author mentions a case of an otter on the Biel 

 estate in East Lothian, which dragged a foster- 

 mother hen out of a coop and partly devoured it, 

 as well as a number of young pheasants big enough 

 to sit out amongst the grass. Traps were set, 

 baited with the dead bodies of the birds, and a laro-e 

 otter was secured; the massacre then ceased. 



In The Gamekeeper for August, 191 3, there is 

 a note concerning the deaths of fifteen sitting 



pheasants in a covert beside a river. Each bird 



63 



