73 

 EARE A:N^IMALS, ETC., OCCURRING IX ABERDEENSHIRE. 



BV J. LONGMUIR, ESQ., JUS. 

 (Continued from Vol. III. jpage 1\%.) 



The Otter, (Lutra vulgaris.) — This "aquatic Weasel" is gradually disap- 

 pearing from our county, and from Scotland. Although Otter hunting, which 

 was a favourite field sport with our ancestors, is now very seldom carried 

 on, except in some of the islands of the Hebrides, where the nature of the 

 ground renders the sport very exciting, a feeling of hatred to this much- 

 persecuted animal is still kept up, especially among the country people, and 

 no opportunity of killing an Otter is omitted. The caution (in the Zoolo- 

 gical Gardens, where an excellent opportunity of watching its peculiar habits 

 is afforded,) ^'Beware! the Otter bites!" is a very useful one, for its ferocity 

 is very "highly developed." The obstinacy and pertinacity, too, which it 

 exhibits when attacked, are remarkable; and yet, notwithstanding its natural 

 disposition, the Otter displays considerable intelligence, and may, when taken 

 young, be tamed without much difficulty. This is practised to some extent 

 in various parts of India, where a number of Otters may frequently be 

 observed fastened by means of long strings to stakes near the edge of the 

 water, in which position they are very useful, both for driving fish into their 

 owner's nets, and for seizing and bringing out the larger individuals. The 

 Otter claims to be ranked as one of the ^^ancient inhabitants" of this land, 

 its bones in various caverns, such- as Kent's Cave, Devon., fully certifying 

 its existence in England many ages ago. Three or four young Otters were 

 lately obtained within a short distance of Aberdeen; and now and then, at 

 various intervals, intelligence of the capture and consequent destruction of 

 some fated individual is conveyed to us. There is a variety spotted with 

 white sometimes seen in this and some of the neighbouring counties, which 

 the Scottish peasantry call the ^'King of the Otters," and which they con- 

 sider to be an individual of such importance, that, according to the current 

 tradition, this ^'King" is never killed without the sudden death of some other 

 animal, or even of man himself. 



Death's Head Moth, (Acherontia Atropos.) — When we behold some gaudy 

 butterfly we are filled with admiration; when we examine with minuteness 

 some dull-looking moth we are often astonished at its beauty and perfection; 

 yet when we see the figure of a human skull — "the emblem of death and 

 the grave," distinctly painted in characteristic colours on a ground of dark 

 brown, and on the thorax of a dingy-looking moth, we are inclined to feel 

 some degree of aversion, if not of horror. The Moth, which carries about 

 with it the symbol of death — in itself a true memento mori — seldom strays 

 80 far north as our "granite city;" but in the winter time, (1853,) as two 

 boys were playing about some logs of wood near the ship-building yards of 

 Footdce, they observed a very large Moth — and well might they think it 

 large, for I believe it is one of the largest Moths in Europe — fluttering 



