58 ANIMAL LIFE UNDER WATER 



on the top, now pushing it away with her feet, 

 yet all the time ready to bolt if a stranger came 

 too near. 



It is usual to speak of the otter as a poor 

 hunted vagrant, against whom the hand of every 

 man is turned, but it appears to me that the 

 life of the otter is one of the best. For weeks 

 together the animal can fish at night — first for 

 food, and then for sport, after which it can 

 romp and frolic, and then sleep peacefully 

 during the heat of the day. Certainly, keepers 

 and water bailiffs wage war on its kind, but 

 otters are intelligent, and comparatively few are 

 trapped. Occasionally it is hunted, but otter- 

 hound packs are not numerous^ and many thou- 

 sands of otters in Britain have never heard the 

 "heu gaze." 



Soon after the young have learnt to fish, the 

 dog leaves the family, but the mother and the 

 cubs, except for accidents, keep together during 

 the summer months. 



Let us follow them during their wanderings. 

 The day had been passed in the hollow of an 

 old gnarled willow by the side of an overgrown 

 ditch. Towards evening the cubs became rest- 

 less, but the hover was quite close to a farm- 



