136 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



measured 48 inches, being the shortest of the eight dogs 

 mentioned, even an inch less than the 1 8^ Ib. dog. The 

 two largest are a 3o-pounder of 53^ inches and a 2/-pounder 

 of 53 inches, these two being respectively 5^ and 5 inches 

 shorter than the great 3 7 -pounder. Should not the 37- 

 pounder, they may ask, have measured 5 8 inches instead of 

 48 inches, or is it that the 37 Ib. is a misprint for 27 or 

 even 17 ? It is not so. I am fully convinced, and I think 

 that all masters of Otter hounds will agree with me, that a 

 long Otter is not necessarily a heavy one and vice versa, 

 the short thick ones of about 48 inches being the weight 

 carriers. 



In Squire Lomax's famous " Diary of an Otter Hunter," 

 covering the forty-two years from 1829 to 1871, none killed 

 were over 30 Ib. in weight, his record being one of 26^ Ib. 

 Mr. Courtenay Tracey, the oldest master of Otter hounds in 

 the country, tells me that he has never seen an Otter of 

 30 Ib. killed, and but a few of 29 Ib., in his long experience 

 of the sport. 



My friend Mr. H. W. Clift, an ex-master of the West 

 Cumberland hounds, who has probably had as much experi- 

 ence of Otter hunting as any man living, and hunted in 

 almost every county in England, tells me that the largest 

 Otter killed by him was on Coniston Lake, which weighed 

 29^ Ib. and measured 48 inches in length, being the thickest 

 Otter he ever saw. 



Personally, I have yet to see an actually weighed 30 Ib. 

 Otter killed by hounds, although one which I shall mention 

 later, which was not weighed, must have topped that weight, 

 but I have seen several killed and weighed between 27 and 

 28 Ib., one of 28^ Ib., and the heaviest 28^ Ib. As a rule if 

 there is a big Otter in a river hunted by hounds, especially 

 so if there are many fox-hounds in the pack and the river 

 low, he has not much chance if hounds find him lying loose, 

 but is generally chopped at once, as he is too fat to get away ; 

 so we ought to see a good many 3O-pounders killed if there 

 were many existing. 



On i oth July 1907, the Essex Otter hounds, after a four 

 hours' hunt, killed a grand dog Otter which weighed on a 

 Salter's spring balance 34 Ib., it being found lying almost on 



