THE OTTER AND SEAL 55 



bank. Here she would lie all day, and only 

 creep out at dusk. 



In the pond were brown trout — Loch Leven 

 and rainbow — from a quarter to half a pound 

 in weight. For three days the otter was given 

 no food, with the idea of seeing whether she 

 would fish for herself, but she made no attempt 

 to enter the water. The pond was then lowered 

 so that there was a small pool with only a foot 

 of water over the fish. Still she abstained, and 

 in the end I had to feed her to prevent her from 

 starving. 



At first, when Bullock or I entered the 

 enclosure, she was extremely shy, but, if 

 cornered, would spit and snarl at us. If dis- 

 lodged from the corner into which she had 

 retired, she avoided by every means going into 

 the water, and made for some other coign of 

 vantage on land. 



After a fortnight the timid animal became 

 accustomed to her surroundings, and com- 

 menced to take fish from the hand, but still 

 nothing would induce her to go into the water. 



I then arranged a gradually sloping bank of 

 shingle from the edge of the pond into two feet 

 of water. Dead fish were first placed at the 



