THE OTTER. Ill 



animal by dragging it under. Both animals were 

 more or less mixed up ; but taking a risky shot, my 

 friend managed to effect the dog's rescue, the otter 

 relaxing its grip and disappearing. 



The dog was very badly injured, and had to be 

 carried by its master two miles or more to the 

 nearest farm, where a conveyance was obtained. 

 I myself saw the wound the otter had inflicted, 

 and have no doubt whatever that had there been 

 no human help at hand the spaniel could never 

 have succeeded in gaining the bank of the tarn. 



A fact worth relating is that whenever that dog 

 again passed near the tarn it would hunt through 

 the rushes with savage enthusiasm, and it became 

 really keen on hunting otters, though, fortunately 

 for its safety, it never again found itself engaged in 

 a single-handed combat with a 'water- weasel.' 



The bite of the otter is truly dreadful, and, except 

 by a stroke of good luck, no dog could succeed singly 

 in killing one of these beasts in its natural environ- 

 ment. 



MIGRATION. 



Like most of the members of the weasel family, 

 the otter is of nomadic habits. A female with 

 young, of course, does not go far while her 

 kits are little, and similarly a pair of otters, 

 travelling together, may be tempted to stay for a 

 while in or about any stretch of water which 

 affords fishing of the kind that suits their tastes ; 

 but, generally speaking, this animal recognises 

 neither border nor range. Its whole life consists 

 of one gigantic migration, which only old age 

 terminates. Beginning, perhaps, at the sea, it 

 works up the estuary of some chosen river, passing 

 huge cities by the way, where railways thunder 



