72 ANIMAL LIFE UNDER WATER 



for during this hard spell food was provided on 

 land. 



Occasionally stress of circumstances drives 

 the starving otter to human habitations, and here 

 the poor brute often gets but scant sympathy. 

 Nothing could be more revolting than the treat- 

 ment meted out to one at Aldeburgh, as 

 recorded in the local press. The animal was 

 found in the back yard of the Aldeburgh Times 

 office ; he greedily ate some fish brought to him, 

 and then escaped into a hay loft. The populace 

 then turned out and hunted him with sticks and 

 guns, and ultimately he was shot. 



I have known of two or three similar cases. 



I have written this account of the wanderings 

 of an otter family so as to give the reader who 

 knows nothing of the animal a general idea of 

 its life. This account is mainly founded on the 

 observations of the otter in the wild state and 

 on my ponds, but there are certain character- 

 istics to which I would allude more fully. 



Reference has been made to the playfulness 

 of the otter. After the animal has eaten all it 

 requires, not only does it toy with fish on the 

 bank, but it plays with its prey in a similar 

 manner under the water. The three photo- 



