106 THE OTTER. 



they are apt to be disturbed during the day-time, 

 they seldom show themselves before dusk, moving 

 about under cover of the rushes while daylight 

 lasts ; but in many a lonely Highland loch they are 

 to be seen active the day through, and to be heard 

 during the night. 



When fishing at night-time on the Wharfe, I 

 have had otters come within reach of my rod, 

 swimming round in circles as though unable to 

 make me out, and uttering many strange noises 

 in their conversation together. One of these 

 noises is a shrill whistle, exactly like a human 

 whistle, and doubtless produced by quick exhala- 

 tion through the nostrils. The most common note 

 is the ' moorhen call,' already referred to ; then 

 they have a series of friendly, rapid ' duckings,' 

 used much when playing together. They break 

 surface clucking, so evidently they cluck when 

 under water. It is rather an uncanny experience to 

 have these beasts so closely investigating when one 

 is fishing alone by a lonely part of the river the 

 quietude, the moonlight on the water, the gliding 

 shadows across the pools all adding to the general 

 eeriness of things ; and I remember once my com- 

 panion, who chanced to be a city man, found the 

 otters altogether too much for him. He stuck it 

 for some time, then came over to where I was 

 fishing and confessed that the brutes frightened 

 him ; nor could I ever again induce him to remain 

 at the river- side after sunset, albeit the finest 

 trout rose most freely at night. 



When about twelve years of age, I myself was 

 badly frightened by an otter. It was sunset, and 

 I was fishing at a point where a large burn joined 

 the river. Here the water flowed very rapidly 

 among the boulders, and every trout-fisher knows 



