THE COMMON OTTER. 



179 



find any fault with his mode of spending his evening hours. In the morning, lie was always at his 

 post in the kennel, and no animal understood better the secret of keeping his own side of the house. 

 Indeed, his pugnacity in this respect gave him a great lift in the favour of the gamekeeper, who talked 

 of his feats wherever he went, and avowed, besides, that if the best cur that ever ran " only dared to 

 girn" at his protege, he would soon "mak' his teeth meet through him." To mankind, however, he 

 was much more civil, and allowed himself to be gently lifted by the tail, though he objected to any 

 interference with his snout, which was probably with him the seat of honour. 



A person who kept a tame otter taught it to associate with his dogs, who were upon the most 

 friendly terms with it on all occasions, and it would follow him in different excursions, in company 

 with his canine attendants. He was in the practice of fishing rivers with nets ; on which occasions 

 the otter proved highly useful to him, by going into the water, and driving trout and other fish 

 towards the net. It was very remarkable that dogs accustomed to otter hunting were so far from 

 offering it the least molestation, that they would not even hunt any other otter while it remained with 

 them; on which account, the owner was under the necessity of parting with it. 



THE COMMON OTTKR. 



A man, named Collins, who resided near Wooler, in Northumberland, had a tame otter, which 

 followed him wherever he went. He frequently took it to fish in the river for its own food, and, when 

 satiated, it never failed to return to its master. One day, in his absence, the otter, being taken out to 

 fish by his son, refused to return at the accustomed call, and was lost. Collins, after several days' 

 search in vain, being near the place where his son had lost it, and calling it by its name, found, to his 

 great joy, the otter creeping to his feet, with every mark of its strong attachment. An otter kept at 

 Corsbie House, Wigtonshire, evinced a great fondness for gooseberries, fondled about its keeper's feet 

 like a pup or a kitten, and even seemed inclined to salute her cheek, when permitted to carry its 

 freedom so far. 



The Roman Catholic Church permitted the otter to be eatjen on maigre days. Pennant saw one 

 in the kitchen of the Carthusians, near Dijon, under preparation for the dinner of that rigid order, 

 who are prohibited from eating fish during their whole lives. Mr. Macgillivray states that he knew a 



