THE OTTER IN THE LYD. 127 



and some were remarkably good at it, and would 

 go great distances and enjoy it immensely, so that 

 the disability was peculiar to Sharper. 



Rhino, the dam of my good dog Royal, one of 

 the terriers I had out this year, had a great 

 antipathy to snakes, and never lost an oppor- 

 tunity of killing one. She created quite a panic 

 among the field one day by appearing amongst us 

 with a large green snake coiled round her neck and 

 wrio^crlinof with all its mio^ht. Rhino had the head 

 grasped tight in her mouth, and she never relaxed 

 her hold till she had killed it. She paid dearly for 

 her fancy this season, for she had the misfortune to 

 attack an adder, pulling it back by the tail as 

 it was gliding into a hole. It fastened on her 

 face, but as she had it off in an instant and killed 

 it, we hoped no harm had been done. A short 

 time after, as we were crossing the river by a foot- 

 bridge. Rhino staggered for a moment and then fell 

 into the water. We soon had her out, but she 

 became perfectly rigid, and was to all appearance 

 dead. Fortunately, just at this moment Mr Mar- 

 wood Yeatman joined us, and acting on his advice 

 we poured whisky down her throat. After a few 

 minutes the muscles relaxed, and she struggled to 

 her feet, only, however, to fall again. Accord- 

 ingly, I had her sent to a farm and shut up in the 

 stables, and when I called for her later I found her 

 with a very swollen head, and very much under 

 the influence of the whisky she had imbibed. As 

 soon as we reached home, I smothered her face in 



