MODE OF TRAINING OTTERS. 
219 
The custom of training otters to fish is not peculiar 
to India ; it is likewise practised in other parts of 
the world, especially in Europe, with considerable 
success. The otters are taken when quite young, 
and taught to do their master’s bidding without 
much difficulty, being at first fed upon small fish, 
which they eat with great readiness, without showing 
much disturbance at their confinement. As they 
grow stronger and more familiarised to their new 
condition, their food is gradually changed, the pro- 
portion of fish being from time to time diminished, 
and vegetables with meat and milk being substituted, 
until they are finally fed with bread alone or chiefly. 
Upon this they thrive well, and become remarkably 
hardy, appearing ultimately to prefer it to fish. 
Though easily trained, it requires some skill and con- 
siderable perseverance to render them available in 
fishing. When, however, they are well taught, 
their sagacity is equal to that of any dog, and their 
fidelity may at all times be relied on. In order to 
teach them to fish for their owners, they are first 
made to fetch and cany, as those spaniels known by 
the name of retrievers are brought to do ; but this of 
course is attended with some difficulty, and requires 
much patience, as, until they are thoroughly instruct- 
ed, they have not the same docility as a dog. When 
they have become so tame as to follow their mas- 
ter, he throws before them a factitious fish, made 
of leather and stuffed with wool. The otter imme- 
diately seizes it, and by dint of patient teaching, the 
animal is at length induced to drop it into the hand 
of his owner, who rewards him with a caress, and 
