334 THE OTTER. 



it. When the weather cleared he found his trap gone, 

 and no float in the water to mark where it was. Phleg- 

 matic Thomas immediately knew that the string was 

 too short, from the loch being so high, so he u con- 

 sulted his raison, "" settled where the trap should be, 

 kept his secret till the loch grew less, then returned and 

 found the float within ten yards of the spot he had 

 calculated, and the otter fast in the trap at the bottom of 

 course drowned. 



One day in July, when going to fish, I perceived an 

 otter perfectly still on the top of the water in Loch Ven- 

 nacher. It was a good way from the shore, and just 

 opposite some steep rocks, where the black deep water 

 was much frequented by salmon. It seemed on the watch 

 like a cat, and it occurred to me that possibly it might be 

 looking out for the rise of a fish, after the manner of seals. 

 The renter of a stake-net fishery told me, that once, when 

 watching the gambols of a large salmon, a seal put up its 

 head at the distance of a mile, swam up in an incredibly short 

 time, and caught the salmon. The seal has this advantage 

 over the otter, that it can seize fish with its paws, and also 

 break nets with them. 



Great numbers of otters resort to the lochs of Lubnaig 

 and Vennacher, and come down in hard weather to the 

 streams that flow out of them. I used to be much annoyed 

 in the winter mornings, when ranging Lennie and Garwhin- 

 nie waters for ducks, by people getting down before me 

 to secure the salmon which the otter had " ta'en oot." Of 

 course they put up all the wild-fowl. After a powdering 



