264 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



supposed to be a cross between the old English hound and a 

 rough terrier, is very rare. They have shaggy coats of coarse 

 wiry hair, but smooth heads and ears ; in fact, a hound's 

 head with a rough coat fit for the water. Most that we 

 see now are either altogether rough or smooth. There is no 

 dog more takes my fancy than one of these ancient thorough- 

 bred otter-hounds. His weird look of hoar antiquity always 

 associates him with "grisly eld"; and his characteristic 

 method of working his amphibious quarry adds to the in- 

 terest his appearance creates. 



Terriers are best in rocky cavernous places, and seldom 

 fail to make the otter bolt if they can get near him. From 

 the abundance of prey, the sea-hunting otters grow to a 

 great size ; inland ones frequenting heavy dead water, where 

 fish abound, are often large also. A remarkably fine speci- 

 men of a fresh-water otter was trapped some winters ago on 

 the Thames above Henley, by a keeper, who sold him to me 

 for a trifle. 



Otters are always pretty plentiful on Loch Lomond, and 

 some heathery rocks full of treacherous hollows, close to the 

 water, on Inch Connachan, are called " the otter rocks," from 

 the otters rearing their young among them every year. One 

 of the island game-watchers, a few summers ago, saw an old 

 female, followed by two young cubs, swim from these rocks 

 to Inch Fad, a distance of two miles. The day was very 

 calm, and the dam swam slowly to accommodate her young. 

 In an old channel of the Finlas Burn, a pair were often 

 to be seen in summer disporting in the pool, nearly tepid 

 from the heat of the sun. They seemed to be enjoying a 

 warm bath. 



The otters seldom frequented Eossdhu bay till the autumn 

 floods, when their sputtering blow was heard in the moon- 

 shine. A man known from his universal acquirements as 

 Thomas A'thing, always knew when they were there, and the 

 odds were that he sold their jackets before the week was out. 



