THE OTTER. 7 



As the Otter is amphibious in its habits, it is not un- 

 reasonable to suppose that it should feed on rats, voles, and 

 rabbits, more especially when fish are scarce. 



Eels are especially liked by Otters, and are easily captured 

 by them. Izaak Walton was of opinion that the Otter can scent 

 them under water, and there appears to be some truth in this. 

 Mr. F. H. Salvin writes, "I know they scent them under water, 

 and bring them up from the mud ; indeed, they prefer them to 

 everything." In a subsequent letter he added : — 



" Some years ago, when T found that Otters have the power of scenting 

 under water, I used to amuse myself by sinking a fish on a string with a 

 bullet, and after dragging it some distance, I hid it under a stone. Then 

 I turned in the Otter, which soon hit off the scent, and dived beautifully to 

 the spot and brought up the fish. Then I used to take him out in a boat 

 on a pond, and repeat the same thing in very deep water, where I knew 

 the bait would enter the mud at the bottom ; but the Otter diving in circles 

 (as they always do in deep water) never failed to find and bring it up. In 

 order to show how easily they can take eels, and how much they live upon 

 them, I may relate what an Otter of mine once did in the river Wharfe 

 in Yorkshire. At a turn in the river, below Mr. Scott's seat, Woodhall, 

 the water had formed a sand-bank which did not appear above the surface, 

 but could be plainly seen when the water was clear. Upon arriving opposite 

 this place, the Otter dived directly for the sand-bank, and I could see he 

 intended mischief, for his shovel-shaped head was immediately driven well 

 into the mud, and he came up with such a large eel that it lapped round 

 his thick neck. 



" As eels can be scented under water in the mud, their capture becomes 

 all the more certain, for they have no chance to escape by swimming." 



In addition to the prey already mentioned, Otters are par- 

 ticularly fond of frogs, which they catch at their spawning-places 

 in spring, and at other times in low-lying damp meadows. Mussels 

 also furnish food to Otters. Numbers of their shells have been 

 found in an Otter's haunt with the ends bitten off, and evident 

 marks of teeth upon the broken fragments, the position of the 

 shells indicating that the Otter, after having crunched off one end, 

 had sucked or scooped out the mollusc in much the same way 

 as those who are partial to shrimps dispose of that esculent 

 crustacean.* 



* Harting, ' Eambles in Search of Shells,' p. 38. The Magellan Sea 

 Otter, Lutra felina, habitually preys on a large spiny Crab, Lilhodes ant- 

 arctica. — Coppiuger, 'Voyage of the Alert,' p. 58. 



