LITTLE BEASTS OF FIELD AND WOOD 



from time to time when going back to the 

 water. 



But the regular slides, although each may not 

 be used more than a dozen times each year, look 

 after they have been used as if several otters had 

 been sliding there for hours ; and there can be 

 little doubt that they do it wholly for the fun 

 of the thing, for I have never found any sign of 

 their having eaten anything at the top of the 

 slide, and those that are most frequently used 

 are not near good fishing-holes, but on shallow 

 reaches of the streams where fish are seldom to be 

 found at any season, owing to the clayey bottom 

 and rapid current. In most instances there is a 

 round-about path from the water to the top of 

 the slide, and sometimes the upper part of the 

 slide itself twists about among the tree-trunks 

 for several yards before the final pitch is reached 

 down the slippery bank to the water. 



The incline for the last part of the way is 

 usually something like forty-five degrees, and 



148 



