THE OTTER AND HIS WAYS. 315 



remarkable instance of this fact occurred to Mr. Geoffrey Hill 

 when hunting in the county of Waterford. He was standing 

 with his hounds and a large party of friends near a rock famous 

 for holding an otter, but equally famous for baffling the best 

 native terriers. However he was just going to put one of his 

 tartars in when a ' holloa ' from his kennel huntsman made all 

 the field look round, ' and we saw,' he says, ' an old dog-otter 

 coming right at us. We rushed out and did all we could to 

 turn him towards the river, not twenty yards off, hoping to have 

 some sport, but all in vain ; he came straight into the whole 

 pack and was of course instantly killed. This incident was 

 witnessed by many members of my hunt and by several gentle- 

 men who had joined me from Waterford.' 



An otter was once seen to go into a clitter of rocks on 

 Dartmoor literally between the legs of a gentleman, the Rev. 

 Fitz Taylor, purpostly stationed there to keep him out ; and the 

 terriers, good as they were, fairly failed to bolt him afterwards. 



Again, on the south coast of Devon, near Slapton, there is 

 a small brook culled Blackpool, which from the sea to its source 

 scarcely exceeds four miles. It is well known to the local 

 fishermen to be swarming with trout, and nightly did an otter 

 visit it, but never failed to return to his stronghold in the cliffs 

 before daylight. To cut off his retreat and head him back, 

 several times the following plan was adopted : Leaving the 

 kennels soon after midnight and jogging on with the hounds to 

 a small bridge that crossed the brook within a hundred yards 

 of the sea, the spot was reached about 2 A.M., and there the first 

 blush of morn awaited. But all in vain ; time after time the 

 same hot trail roused up the villagers and excited warm hope, 

 but there was no visible otter and consequently no kill. The 

 wily beast fairly beat his enemies, managing in the dark either 

 to slip down with the current unseen, or to land behind their 

 backs and gain the cliffs before the hounds could catch him. 



But every rule has its exception ; and Mr. Collier will never 

 forget the triumph he once achieved in heading back an otter 

 on the Torridge River. He certainly adopted an exceptional 



