146 
NATURE NOTES 
Shortly a friend arrived post-haste with two cameras and 
endeavoured — though vainly, as has since been discovered — to 
photograph the beastie in its dark lair. Next we secured the 
cub in a landing-net, and carried it, struggling and scolding, out 
into the daylight. When turned loose on the lawn the little 
thing moved slowly about, but appeared unable to escape on 
account of its feebleness. We could now see what a beautiful 
soft creature it was, with its curious flat head, its expressive 
eyes, powerful pads and well-developed tail. From the point 
— or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, the butt — of the 
nose to the tip of the tail the cub measured twenty inches, and 
probably it was about a month old. As it lay on the lawn we 
observed how slowly the creature drew its breaths ; but though 
Photo by T. R. Hod^es.\ AN OTTER CuH. 
small and weak it was fierce, and when a lady friend stood 
beside it to prove, as she said, how tame it was, the small 
savage caught hold of her dress with its teeth in an instant. 
When the “business-end” of the animal was kept out of 
mischief by the net, the fur was found to be very soft, and 
so far as could be told, the process of stroking was by no means 
unpleasing to the otter itself. 
The photographer having exposed all his plates, the cub 
was restored to its original hiding-place in quite a lively 
condition. On being turned loose it ran for a short distance, 
but when inspected later in the day was found to have returned 
to the exact spot where it was first discovered. In order to 
keep off marauding dogs, the bottom of the gate was boarded up 
through the hours of daylight, and a saucer of milk, together 
with divers small fish, provided by sympathising women-folk. 
During the day, in the writer’s absence, the attractive little 
visitor appears to have held a kind of hvce, and once at all 
