THE BOOK OF THE OTTER 



terriers had bolted him in the field, and we, of 

 course, were unaware of what was happening. 

 This otter finally emerged at the drain mouth, but 

 unlike his predecessor, took the water quietly 

 below the willow trees. 



In Walton's description of a morning's sport 

 with Mr Sadler's " Otter-dogs," Sweetlips — one of 

 the hounds — brings the carcass of the otter to 

 " Venator." We have on several occasions seen 

 a hound seize and carry a dead-beat otter ashore. 

 This is easily done in the case of a 12 lb. or 14 lb. 

 otter, but it is a different matter for a hound to 

 handle a big, fighting dog otter. When a hunted 

 otter is floating on top of the water, he often makes 

 a considerable splash if he dives in a hurry. 



Although perhaps not so good a climber as some 



other members of the weasel family, the otter is no 



slouch at negotiating steep, rocky ghylls, and can 



scramble about in a wonderful manner. It seems 



rather hard to account for the fact that in some 



seasons hounds kill a majority of dog-otters, while 



in other seasons the total is chiefly made up of 



146 



