FROM WEIR TO MILL. 83 



go : their roads overland are only a few feet from 

 the river above to the pool below; to this they 

 most pertinaciously cling. Some of my readers 

 may wonder how it is that they are not killed off. 

 Those who have tried to do this, either with gun 

 or trap, have met with but little success ; for they 

 do not know how to go about it, and those who do 

 know keep their mouths shut. It is too great a treat 

 to see a fine dog-otter come whistling down the river, 

 head up, rush up his favourite tunnel out on the 

 grass, and pass in front of you down into the pool ; 

 and this is what they have done and are doing still, 

 for their tracks are as visible as those of sheep to 

 people that understand them. 



I used to think that it was not possible that the 

 otters would make themselves at home like barn 

 rats, but I have found lately that I was mistaken : 

 one is always learning, where wild life is concerned. 



From the nature of the locality and the depth of 

 this water, the fiercest and most eager pack of otter- 

 hounds could not hunt them : this the otters know, 

 and they act on it. When their old haunts came to 

 grief by the great trees falling, and taking down the 

 banks with them, they shifted their quarters, and 



