THE OTTER. 199 



was considered quite fishy enough to be eaten by devout Catholics on fast days. To this Izaak 

 Walton alludes in a well-known passage in his " Complete Angler." 



"Piscator. ' I pray, honest huntsman, let me ask you a pleasant question : do you hunt a beast or a fish ? ' 

 " Huntsman. ' Sir, it is not in my power to resolve you ; I leave it to be resolved by the College of Carthusians, 

 who have made vows never to eat flesh. But I have heard the question hath been debated among many great clerks, 

 and they seem to differ about it, yet most agree that her tail is fish ; and if her boAy be fish too, then I may say that a 

 fish will walk upon land.' " 



The movements of the Otters in water are marvellous. They swim about in families, performing 

 the most astonishing pranks, from mere exuberance of spirits and excess of energy. Nothing can give 

 a better idea of their activity, than the description of them in that most delightful of natural history 

 books and fairy tales, " Water Babies." 



" Suddenly Tom heard the strangest noise up the stream; cooing, and grunting, and whining, and 

 squeaking, as if you had put into a bag two Stock Doves, nine Mice, three Guinea-pigs, and a blind 

 puppy, and left them there to settle themselves and make music. He looked up the water, and there 

 he saw a sight as strange as the noise ; a great ball rolling over and over down the stream, seeming 

 one moment of soft brown fur, and the next of shining glass : and yet it was not a ball ; for 

 sometimes it broke up and streamed away in pieces, and then it joined again ; and all the while the 

 noise came out of it louder and louder. 



" Tom asked the Dragon-fly what it could be : but, of course, with his short sight, he could not 

 even see it, though it was not ten yards away. So he took the neatest little header into the water, 

 and started off to see for himself; and, when he came near, the ball turned out to be four or five 

 beautiful creatures, many times larger than Tom, who were swimming about, and rolling, and diving, 

 and twisting, and wrestling, and cuddling, and kissing, and biting, and scratching, in the most charm- 

 ing fashion that ever was seen. And if you don't believe me, you may go to the Zoological Gardens 

 (for I am afraid that you won't see it nearer, unless, perhaps, you get up at five in the morning, 

 and go down to Cordery's Moor, and watch by the great withy pollard which hangs over the back- 

 water, where the Otters breed sometimes), and then say, if Otters at play in the water are not the 

 merriest, lithest, gracefullest creatures you ever saw." 



The Otter makes a sort of nest in hollows in the banks of the river in which it lives, but does not, 

 as is sometimes stated, construct complicated burrows : its claws, indeed, are too weak for any such 

 work. It usually confines itself to rivers, but is sometimes found on the sea-shore. 



Otter hunting was formerly a very favourite sport. It was conducted with a special breed 

 of Dogs the Otter-hound (see p. 141), and the spear was used for killing the animal when brought 

 to bay. 



Otters are quite capable of domestication, and may be taught to catch fish for their masters. For 

 this purpose they must be caught young, and gradually brought to live upon bread and milk. 

 When this end is attained, they are taught to fetch and carry, like a Dog first sticks, &c., then a 

 stuffed fish, then a dead one. When this part of their education is perfect, and they make no attempt 

 to mangle the fish given to them, they are sent into the water to catch living fish. Otters are trained 

 for this purpose in India, and also in China, where they are used by the fishermen of the Yang-tse- 

 kiang. Mr. J. Thomson* says : " We noticed men fishing with trained Otters in this part of 

 the river. There were a number of boats, and each boat was furnished with an Otter tied to a cord. 

 The animal was thrust into the water, and remained there until it had caught a fish ; then it was 

 hauled up, and the fisherman, placing his foot upon its tail, stamped vigorously until it had dropped 

 its finny prey." 



There is one peculiar habit of the Canadian Otterf which is worthy of mention. "Their 

 favourite sport is sliding, and for this purpose in winter the highest ridge of snow is selected, to the 

 top of which the Otters scramble, when, lying on the belly, with the fore-feet backwards, they give 

 themselves an impulse with their hindlegs, and swiftly glide head foremost down the declivity, some- 

 times for the distance of twenty yards. This sport they continue apparently with the keenest enjoy 

 ment until fatigue or hunger induces them to desist." 



* "Malacca, Indo-China, and China." t Lutra canadensis. 



