The Life Story of an Otter

uccessful struggle it has waged against those exterminating agencies under whi

tiate it from the other creatures of the wild. Its scent, for instance, unlike that of fox or badger, to which every tike and lurcher will sto

o their source, but crosses hills and even mountains to reach its fishing-grounds. It has been known to travel fift

r how much it may leave uneaten the otter never returns to a kill, and so escapes the traps with which gamekeeper or water-bailiff is sure to ring the ground about it. Unlike i

ble forager though she is, must often be sore pressed to provide food for her litter. At times the conditions are too severe, and a tragedy ensues. At Mullyon, in Mount's Bay, one bitterly cold December, when

ot better known; and the present narrative is an attempt to portray it

d it not been for my long familiarity with the ways and habits of a creature that is by general consent the most mysterious and inscrutable of our fauna, for the incidents described embody the gleanings of a lifetime of observation and inquiry. It will be noted that I agree wit

e; and my hope is to bring about a wider and deeper interest in the animal, an

Bedford and Mr. J. G. Millais for their courtesy in

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1909.