336 THE OTTER. 



along, intercepted and rolled it over not thirty yards from 

 the shore. 



A friend of mine one autumn was wandering along the 

 banks of the Tweed, and seeing the dead water of a deep 

 pool a little agitated, he peeped cautiously over. An old 

 otter and several young ones were paddling about in perfect 

 security and comfort. He made a slight noise, and all 

 disappeared as if by magic where and how he could not 

 discover. After remaining quiet for a short time, they were 

 upon the surface again in the same sleight of foot way. 

 He described it as a beautiful and interesting sight, and 

 slipped back without a second time disturbing them. He 

 told me he had heard that Lord John Scott's otter- 

 hounds came to the pool shortly after, on purpose to 

 hunt them, but never discovered either the dam or her 

 young. 



The ears of the otter, buried in its fur, like those of most 

 water animals, give it something of a reptile appearance. 

 But short ears are not always the characteristic of creatures 

 that feed in and about water. There is an aquatic mouse, 

 about the size and colour of a half-grown Norway rat, 

 which has very large round transparent ears. I have often 

 met with it when fishing the more sluggish waters of the 

 Lowlands. It is fully as expert a diver as the common water- 

 rat. When angling a shallow gravelly channel of the Ale 

 in Selkirkshire, I saw one dive a distance of at least a 

 dozen yards, and watched it swimming very swiftly under 

 water all the time. From its light fawn colour, it is far 

 more easily seen than the water-rat. Its legs are also longer, 



