FAIR PLAY FOR THE OTTER 177 



doe other things of great pleasure," or whether he did 

 so out of sheer love of fair play, which was largely in- 

 herent in him, we know not. But we venture to suggest 

 that not a few Waltonians of the twentieth century 

 might do well to bear in mind this simple lesson in 

 sportsmanship taught by the immortal Izaak. 



Ask the average angler what constitutes the food of 

 the otter and the reply will probably be " Fish, and 

 nothing but fish ! " 



Well, fish certainly does figure pretty largely on 

 Lutra's daily, or rather nightly — he is of nocturnal 

 habits — bill-of-fare, but he is by no means averse to 

 rabbits, waterhens, water-voles, rats, mice, frogs, fresh- 

 water mussels, crawfish, snails, beetles, etc. 



Of all fish the otter probably gives preference to the 

 eel ; a fact which was demonstrated in the following 

 manner : 



A certain sportsman who had reared an otter from early 

 cubhood laid out before his pet a number of different 

 kinds of fish, including salmon, trout, pike, perch, carp, 

 tench, bream, and eels. After " nosing " each kind 

 the otter singled out an eel, and immediately com- 

 menced to devour it. This occurred not once only but 

 upon several occasions. 



We do not pretend to know why our web-footed friend 

 evinces such a predilection for eels, but, depend upon 

 it, if you find the remains of eels on a patch of flattened- 

 down rushes, or in some sequestered spot along the banks 

 of your stream, there has been an otter at work. If 

 you search carefully, you may, perhaps, meet with the 

 half-eaten carcass of other kinds of fish ; but " poached " 

 eels ^\^ll surely predominate. It may be the natural 



