THE OTTER AND SEAL 71 



simply turned round, faced the pack, and died 

 fighting. 



During a hard winter the otter's lot, like that 

 of many another jvild animal, is not an enviable 

 one. In districts such as I have described the 

 rivers do not freeze and the open sea is not far 

 distant, but floods make fishing difficult and food 

 is scarce, and when the snow is On the ground the 

 otter is easily tracked and shot or trapped. 



In Fen districts, where the otter has to fish 

 in sluggish streams and shallow lakes, the animal 

 is often in a desperate plight when the water 

 freezes. For a time he may be able to keep a hole 

 open and fish under the ice, but during a hard 

 winter he has to turn to rats, water-fowl and even 

 poultry for a living. An old marshman at Acle 

 once described to me how two otters fished in a 

 dyke under the ice for several days ; they kept 

 two holes open and swam from one to the other. 



In 1911 the animals on my observation pond 

 were frozen out, so I broke a hole for them and 

 they kept it open themselves by biting away the 

 ice. These otters, however, kept the hole open 

 so as to be able to get into the water for a swim, 

 and possibly with the idea of chasing a fish under 

 the ice ; it certainly was not hunger with them, 



