THE OTTER. 121 



to those inhabiting streams in which they are 

 solely dependent on trout for food. During ex- 

 treme cold snaps the healthy trout become torpid, 

 and lie hidden under the rocks at the river-bed 

 except when a gleam of sunshine calls them 

 forth, the only fish remaining within the otter's 

 reach being badly conditioned spawning fish, which 

 afford very little nourishment. At such times an 

 otter will become entirely diurnal in its habits, 

 fishing during the hours of the day when the light 

 is at its best, and when, presumably, it is attracted 

 forth by the healthy fish astir at that time only. 

 On one such occasion the river was frozen save for 

 a narrow channel down its centre, and the otter 

 could be seen swimming back and forth between 

 this channel and the ice-covered stretches. Some- 

 times it would come quite close to the village, 

 swimming and diving this way and that while 

 groups of interested villagers watched from the 

 highway above. 



Hard pressed by hunger during a cold snap, an 

 otter has been known to venture far from its 

 beloved element in search of food. These animals 

 have even been found guilty of plundering hen- 

 roosts and invading rabbit-warrens. I believe also 

 that during such times they kill a fair number of 

 water-fowl, either by swimming beneath them and 

 dragging them under, or by surprising them in 

 cover. The otter referred to above formed the 

 habit, during the long cold snap, of hunting in 

 the wood that bordered the stretch of river it 

 chiefly frequented. In the centre of this wood, 

 about half a mile from the river, was a small, round 

 pond, amply screened by undergrowth, and here a 

 water-vole had taken up its winter home seeking, 

 no doubt, security from the floods, while possibly 



