Show HAV OTTEIHS OAPTUUE PREY They Are Great Strategists and Fertile of Resources I may claim some right says H R Frances to speak confidently of the otters ot-ters proceedings when in pursuit of his prey since I was the first person to record re-cord from the testimony of intelligent eye witnesses the course of his dealing with his victims both by land and by water wa-ter It Is unlucky that Major Fisher who writes on such subjects with the keenest Interest of a sportsman should not have seen this testimony which would have saved him the gratuitous error of denying deny-ing that the otter seeks his prey on land as well as in the water No doubt this error has been encouraged encour-aged by the position of Lutras eyes which look upward from above a rather fiat snout Naturalists at once inferred that this arrangement was for the convenience con-venience of the otter in seizing his slippery slip-pery victims from below This being demonstrably de-monstrably a mistake we are tempted to suggest that this upward gaze enables him in his long dives to keep in view the course of the eddies and the outline of the bankmatters whch closely concern him But of course this is mere conjecture conject-ure We know however that whether on land or in the water he seizes his prey from above infixing almost in half a moment mo-ment his four claws and inficting wth eager haste what is designed to be a fatal bite When he was watched while seizing seiz-ing a rabbit on the bank of the Mole he seemed not to have bitten deep enough and dragged his victim piteously squealing squeal-ing into the river where he deliberately drowned it and then ate it at his lesure washing the flesh from time to time so as to suggest that the warm blood was over strong for his digestion The observer on this occasion whose attention was first drawn by the cres of the rabbit was fortunately himself as master of ottf pounds used to watching the stealthy maneuvers of the enemy He had with him a sharp fox terrier and though on the opposite side of the stream to that on which the otter was dining rather expected the latter to make himself him-self scarce when the dog appeared But the marauder showed amusing coolness he dropped into the stream raised his head above water a few yards from the bank and watched the terriers proceedings proceed-ings Having satisfied himself that the I dog had no taste for anything beyond dry shikar he returned tranquilly to his dinner din-ner Here we had a depredator bold as well as cunning and obviously a clean feeder Of course I do not assume that the otter usually or even frequently seeks his prey on land I am content to know that he is capable of doing so as occasion serves and that in such a case at all events he does not seize his victims vic-tims from below About the same date at which this curious cu-rious rabbit Incident was reported to me I received from the same neighborhood an account equally well authenticated of the otters modus operandi when in pursuit of the fish which we may safely assume form his principal diet A pike guessed at some seven pounds was seen basking under an overhanging tree on the Mole Nearly above him ran a bare bough Along that bough an otter was seen to creepI wish I could find some apter word to express the prowlers stealthy steal-thy sinuous movementtill he was close above the pike down on whose back he dropped or slid at once fastening all his claws in the fish and as I fully believe though the spectators eye could not note the movement with certainty fixing the long grip of his jaws just over the junction junc-tion of his skull and spine London Fishing Gazette l e |