i6 The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland
flat head into the mud, probably searching for eels, but under water she seems to
depend more on her eyesight than on her powers of scenting anything^ She a so
likes slugs, but not so . much as snails. She has a wonderfully bright and full
eye all black like a boot button, and shows a lot of the white in the corner, which
gives her a very wild and fierce look. Running water from tap or waterfall
causes her infinite delight as she rolls over and over on her back beneath it. Her
cries are many and v a r ied -a hiss when she plays or is frightened, a squeal or
scream when she is in a rage, or if I show her a bass broom, and a short sharp,
bird-like whistle or call which she utlps; in answer- to mine, or when she hears
my voicelS-: footstep. She follows well, comes to my whistle, and will come out
of the stream at my call.Xghe has no fear of dogs B cats and is most
mischievous and playful in the house, tearing and shaking rugs and curtains, and
delighting to get in behind the books, in my bookcase and turn them all out on
the floor. She follows well in the dark, is not nearly so shy and nervous
of strangers approaching as tame badgers are, and can be handled sudden y
without attempting to bite. She has only shed her coat once , since I have: had
her and she is now doing so, but slowly. She curls herself up to sleep, holding
one’ of her hind pads in her mouth, and keeping it there with her two fore ones.
Otters are said to hunt their prey by scent under water, but on this point it
is difficult to give an opinion. At any rate good old Izaak Walton's estimate was
somewhat exaggerated. In the words he places in his huntsmans mouth he says,-
•And I can tell you that this dog-fishtsr— for so the Latins call him—can sm « |a
fish in the water a hundred yards from him, Gesner says much further.' To which
we might add that Gesner made even more remarkable statements worthy of the
famous Baron Munchausen himself. . . .
At any rate the late Captain Salvin was convinced that Otters had the power
to scent fish below the water, for in an interesting letter to Mr. Hartmg he
writes'. 'Some years ago, when I 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 turne in
the Otter, which soon h it' 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
1 Zoologist, January 1894, p. 7.