COMMON OTTER. 175 



Numerous instances have been recorded in later times, 

 by Daniel, Bewick, Shaw, and others ; in one of which 

 an Otter had been known to take eight or ten salmon in 

 a day : and the following" passage in the journal of Bishop 

 Heber confirms some previous statements, that one of the 

 Asiatic species, probably Lutra nair (Fr. Cuv.), may be 

 rendered similarly useful : — " We passed, to my surprise, 

 a row of no less than nine or ten large and very beautiful 

 Otters, tethered with straw collars and long strings to 

 bamboo stakes on the banks (of the Matta Colly). Some 

 were swimming about at the full extent of their strings, 

 or lying half in and half out of the water ; others were 

 rolling themselves in the sun on the sandy bank, uttering 

 a shrill whistling noise, as if in play. I was told that 

 most of the fishermen in this neighbourhood kept one or 

 more of these animals, who were almost as tame as Dogs, 

 and of great use in fishing ; sometimes driving the shoals 

 into the nets, sometimes bringing out the larger fish with 

 their teeth. I was much pleased and interested with the 

 sight. It has always been a fancy of mine that the poor 

 creatures whom we waste and prosecute to death, for no 

 cause but the gratification of our cruelty, might, by 

 reasonable treatment, be made the sources of abundant 

 amusement and advantage to us." This interesting ac- 

 count justifies the conclusion drawn by the good prelate 

 from the scene that so much delighted him, that " the 

 simple Hindoo shows here a better taste and judgment 

 than half the Otter-hunting and Badger-baiting gentry 

 of England." With such instances as these before us, 

 there seems to be no reason why this animal, so tractable 

 and docile as it is proved to be, should not be very 

 generally domesticated for the purposes of sport, or 

 employed by fishermen as a means of assisting them in 

 their calling. 



