70 ANIMAL LIFE UNDER WATER 



in the valley below, where he returned to a trout 

 diet. When the sport was good he stayed a day 

 or two, but the roving spirit was still upon him, 

 and he continued to follow the river towards the 

 sea. Three times he met other otters during his 

 journey, but passed them unheeded. 



At last his wanderings brought him to a fish- 

 ing village at the mouth of the river; this he. 

 passed through at dead of night and found him- 

 self in the sea. 



The bay held hundreds ofi salmon and sea 

 trout ready to travel up with the first flood, and 

 -in the salt water the otter took his toll. Then 

 the animal travelled along the coast, where he 

 fed on flat-fish, mullet and bass, and as he swam 

 with a sinuous movement among the rocks his 

 body had more the appearance of a conger than 

 an otter. 



Occasionally he made excursions inland to 

 various ponds and streams, and once to a fish 

 hatchery, where he nearly lost his life. In the 

 autumn he returned over the moors to his old 

 haunts ; later he fought a battle^ won a mate, and 

 for a time again settled down into family life. 

 That summer he met a pack of the otter hounds ; 

 he was a big, proud beast, and when pressed he 



