96 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
While I sat one summer’s afternoon over a large, clear, crystal 
pool, watching the fly-life float down—being at the time particu- 
larly interested in the matter of fly-tying—I suddenly heard a 
splash in the water near at hand, and looking down I saw an 
animal travelling up on the bottom of the river, which I at once 
knew to be an Otter. But what surprised me most—my first 
surprise was that it had not detected me before it took the water, 
knowing how keen they are—was that, instead of tackling several 
Trout which lay lazily in its path, it contented itself with turning 
up stone after stone with its snout in search of food of some kind, 
which it evidently hoped to find beneath them, as from several 
I saw it grab something, and then go on to the next. All at 
once, however, it made a great rush forward, and I saw it catch 
an Kel, which evidently had heard it coming and tried to slip 
away. The Kel was about a foot long, and with this it seemed 
content, for coming to the surface it began to go gently down the 
stream, but, catching sight of me, it again dived and hurried off 
under water at a pace it would seem almost impossible for it to 
attain. This instance, as I have already said, was my first 
authority for saying that Otters were the friends of the angler, if 
kept, however, to a proper level, and this has now been done nearly 
all over England by the institution of Otter hunts, which in them- 
selves have increased wonderfully in the last ten years. 
As to the size of the Otter, I believe twenty-nine pounds is 
the heaviest yet scaled, though of course there are unauthenti- 
cated reports of great weight; and as to their age, if the teeth 
are any guide, it may be assumed they live about as long asa 
Dog, but this is a matter on which I have no evidence. 
However, if these brief notes do not explain the whole matter, 
stili I hope they will throw some little light beyond that which 
has already been published on the history of what I have called, 
as an angler, ‘‘ my friend the Otter.”’ 
