138 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



my boatman in the Loch of Harray in Orkney which, 

 weighed carefully on two different sets of scales, was 35 lb. 



One killed in the English Lake district measured 50-| 

 inches and was said to have weighed 34 lb,, but although the 

 length is authentic, I cannot say the same for the weight. 

 Another 32 lb. Otter was killed by the old Bishop Auckland 

 pack when the late John Galton was master. 



The Carlisle hounds, when hunted by Mr. Carrick, killed 

 Otters of 3 I, 30, 29, and 28 lb., and Mr. Buckley's hounds in 

 1895 killed, in Lake Bala in Wales, one of 29^^ lb. 



A 30 lb. Otter was found dead on the banks of the Wyre 

 in North Lancashire in March 1899. On Saturday, iith 

 June 1904, the famous Dumfriesshire Otter hounds killed 

 their record Otter in the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee, hunting 

 from Tongland Bridge, he weighing 29^ lb. and measuring 

 51L inches, but on 5th August 1908 they killed a 30 lb. 

 dog on the Esk at Parrisfoot which had a total length of 

 49 inches. 



One of 29§ lb. and measuring 51^ inches was shot on 

 nth November 1907, on the tidal waters of the Stour on the 

 mud flats opposite Mistley, half a mile from shore, by a punt- 

 gunner out after duck, and another of 29 lb. was tailed and 

 killed near Yalding in Kent. 



Last year, in September 1 908, the West Cumberland Pack 

 killed a fine dog of 28^ lb. in the river Mite in West Cumber- 

 land, which measured 50 inches in length. The East of 

 Scotland pack killed an enormous Otter on the Tyne near 

 Haddington on 4th July 1906, after a nine and a half hours' 

 hunt in deep water, which must have been nearly a record. 

 Everybody was too tired to weigh him before he was broken 

 up, but his length was marked on a pole by one of the field, 

 and on measuring it afterwards we found it to be just under 

 60 inches. I knew the Otter well, having been at close 

 quarters with him on more than one occasion, and he 

 appeared to be pounds heavier than anything I have seen 

 before or since. Even when broken up his rudder measured 

 3^1 inches more than normal, his mask i^ inches, and the 

 girth of his upper neck 3^ inches, the latter having a girth of 

 16^ inches. 



Mr. Raine of Carlisle says that the Dumfriesshire 30- 



