«2 ANIMAL LIFE UNDER WATER 



fastidious feeder and that he only eats a choice 

 morsel out of the shoulder of a fish. This is 

 entirely incorrect ; the otter is not at all particu- 

 lar what' he eats and will devour fish that has 

 been killed some time. When the animal leaves 

 his hover at night he devours every morsel of 

 the first few fish ; he starts at the head and eats 

 .down to the tail. 



When his hunger is appeased he may con- 

 tinue to catch fish for sport, and it is then that 

 he takes a bite or two out of the shoulder, as it 

 were, for luck. 



When fish are scarce, and catching them 

 entails considerable trouble, the otter ceases its 

 fishing as soon as its appetite is satisfied, and this 

 is when he amuses himself in some other way. 

 When fish are plentiful and scatter in all direc- 

 tions as he swims through a pool he cannot resist 

 killing. 



The best example I know of this is that of 

 the wild otter from Ireland. This animal came 

 over in a box, and on the evening of her arrival 

 I took the box down to the water's edge. As 

 soon as she was released she dived into the water, 

 and came out on the other side with a roach in 

 her mouth. This she at once dropped, and 



