142 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

“A labourer going to his work, soon after five o’clock in
the morning, saw a number of animals coming towards him,
and stood quietly by the hedge till they came alongside of
him. He then perceived four old otters, probably dams,
and about twenty young ones. He took a stick out of the
hedge and killed one. Directly it began to squeak, all the
four old ones turned back, and stood till the other young
ones had escaped through the hedge, and then went quietly
themselves. Several families were thus journeying together,
and probably they had left their former abode from not
finding a sufficiency of food.” Otters have often been tamed
and taught to catch fish for their masters. Captain Brown
tells of an otter which was caught when young and trained
by James Campbell nearInverness. “It was frequently employed
in catching fish, and would, sometimes, take eight or ten
salmon in a day. If not prevented, it always made an
attempt to break the fish behind the anal fin, which is next
the tail; and, as soon as one was taken away, it always
dived in pursuit of more. It was equally dexterous at sea
fishing, and took great numbers of young cod, and other
fish, there. When tired, it would refuse to fish any longer,
and was then rewarded with as much as it could devour.
Having satisfied its appetite, it always coiled itself round,
and fell asleep: in which state it was generally carried home.”
Professor Steller says that on killing and skinning a female
otter, which he found at a place at which he had deprived
her of her young eight days previously, he found her quite
wasted away from grief at the loss of her progeny.

The Badger. There are several varieties of Badger, the
Indian and the American being the most important, re-
spectively of the eastern and western worlds. The common
badger (Méeles taxus), which is found in different parts of
England, feeds upon roots, bulbs, fruits, and all kinds of
vegetables, as well as small animals, snails and worms. He
has also a great fancy for eggs. He lives in burrows, which ©