THE OTTER AND SEAL 83 



bolted £011 some rocks, where she hid up for two 

 days. 



On her arrival this otter must have been 

 thoroughly scared, as her subsequent behaviour 

 proved, but as she went through the water she 

 flushed this roach and instinctively seized it. 

 The same otter never became tame enough to be 

 interesting, and, as I have stated, was released 

 a month after her arrival. 



As an instance of the killing of fish for mere 

 sport I quote an incident related to me by Mr. 

 W. H. Armistead, of the Solway Fishery 

 Company. On one occasion three otters visited 

 his yearling ponds, and during the night killed 

 two thousand fish. One can imagine how these 

 beasts raced through the water and saw red as 

 they seized one fish after another. 



Like all other wild animals, the otter at the 

 present time is not nearly so common as he was 

 a century ago. In wilder districts there are still 

 plenty to be found, and so long as the otter is 

 hunted there is no fear of his extermination in 

 more populous areas, for notwithstanding all one 

 heard about " sport " after the war, there will 

 always be sporting landowners who will preserve 

 otters in otter-hunting districts. 



