List of the Fauna of the Counti/. 165 



taken in the Colchester district, and quite recently one was 



caught hetween Colchester and Harwich, at Bentley ; hut 



these individuals were, I fear, our last survivors of a race 



which gave much sport to our ancestors, or, perhaps we should 



say, gave opportunity for the exhibition of much brutality. 



In my younger days I saw a few baitings, but it certainly did 



not strike me that any great amount of suffering was inflicted 



on the badger ; the dogs, especially those new to the work, 



gave unmistakable evidence that they did not hke the 



badger's jaws. 



Carnivora. Mustelid.e. 



LuTRA VULGARIS. Couimon otter. — This animal also, in 

 Essex, is becoming rare, not on account of the value of our 

 coarse fish on which it lives, but in consequence of the ease 

 with which it may be taken in a steel trap, and so be made 

 into a "specimen" to adorn the hall wall, — a horrible 

 " stuffed" effigy of its former graceful self. It has occa- 

 sionally appeared lately in the Colne River, close to this 

 town, and several have unfortunately been destroyed at Ford 

 Street. It occurs also in the Stour, Chelmer, Blackwater, 

 and Lea. It is certainly one of our most interesting and 

 graceful animals when swimming in its native streams. It 

 is astonishing that so large an animal is able to slip into the 

 water so quietly, not making half the wake that a rat does ; 

 but so it is, and anyone who is fortunate enough to see a 

 mother and family playing in clear water, as I have more 

 than once, will I am certain agree with me that it is one of 

 the most interesting sights possible. Otters are usually 

 nocturnal in their habits, like the rest of the family, and I 

 have heard an old gentleman say that when the ground was 

 covered with snow he tracked an otter for miles in its passage 

 from pond to pond where it had travelled during the night. 

 This occurred in Dengie hundred, at a time when ponds 

 containing fish, or at all events eels, were much more common 

 than now, and when almost every field had its pond. 



MusTELA VULGARIS. Comiiion Weasel. — A character suffi- 

 cient to enable one at a glance to distinguish this animal 

 from the stoat is afforded in the coloration of the tail, which 



