190 OTTER.

tomed call, and was lost. Collins tried every means to
recover it, and alter several days search, being near
the place where it was lost by his son, and calling it
by name, it came creeping to his feet, exhibiting many
unabated marks of affection and attachment.”

Bewick also mentions a young one, which had been
taught to catch fish with so much success, that it would
sometimes capture ten salmon in a single day.

The following lines of the poet Somerville, in his
“Chase,” well depict the habits of the otter:—

“Where rages not oppression? where, alas!

Ts innocence secure. Rapine and spoil

Haunt even the lowest deeps. Seas have their sharks;
Rivers and ponds enclose the ravenous pike;

He in his turn becomes a prey; on him

Th’ amphibious otter feasts. Just is his fate
Deserved; but tyrants know no bounds: nor spears
That bristle on his back, defend the perch

From his wide greedy jaws; nor burnished mail
The yellow carp; nor all his arts can save

The insinuating eel, that hides his head

Beneath the slimy mud; nor yet escapes

The crimson-spotted trout—the river’s pride,

And beauty of the stream. Without remorse,
‘This midnight pillager, raging around,

Insatiate swallows all. The owner mourns

Th’ unpcopled rivulet, and gladly hears

The huntsman’s early call.”