THE OTTER. 26*7 



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 Low- 

 lands. 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, and its 

 motions more light and springy. I have never observed it in 

 any part of the Highlands. 



The common Mus aquations 1 is an ugly creature, and his 

 disgusting look is increased by the apparent deficiency of ears. 



i One of my critics has suggested that "the foul-feeding Norway rat" is the 

 toad-devourer, and that the teeth of the water-rat are only fitted for vegetable 

 diet. This may be the case ; but from the formation of its teeth, I can see no 

 reason why the water-rat should not feed on animal diet as well as vegetable. 

 It was always in spring when toads frequent water for breeding purposes, 

 sometimes rolled up in large balls, oftener in pairs that I noticed their scooped - 

 out skins on the banks. The water is then too cold for the house-rat to dive 

 in search of prey, and the season too early even for their leaving winter shelter 

 for the shores of the river. The three white rats I was asked to inspect, and 

 found that their food was sliced potato, turnip, and pieces of raw meat. Having 

 been prisoners for some time, it was unlikely that they would have been still 

 given raw meat had they neglected it from the beginning. " Tastes differ ; " but 

 I could never think the water-rat a pretty creature, and to me it has always been 

 an object of even greater aversion than its Scandinavian cousin. Bewick is of 

 opinion that the water-rat " feeds on frogs, small fish, and spawn." St John (in 

 page 68 of his 'Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands') calls "the 

 poor water-rat a harmless animal, feeding principally on herbage, not refusing, 

 however, fish, or even toads, when they come in its way." 



The same critic assumes that water-ousels are guiltless of the charge brought 

 against them of devouring salmon-roe. As authority, he cites Mr Knox, who 

 shot numbers of these birds without once finding roe in their crops. This ex- 

 culpatory evidence savours somewhat of the Irishman's, who was condemned on 



