The Canada Otter 825 



A glimpse of their life at this time was secured by Bert A. 

 Dobson, of the Adirondacks. 



One year, 1900, in early June, while fishing on Peavine 

 Creek (Cranberry Lake), he saw a female Otter and two kits, 

 one-third grown. She uttered a loud chirruping and, dashing 

 down the creek, which was not deep enough for swimming, 

 she led the young off, chirruping and clucking to them like 

 a hen. 



In Algoma, the young are seen with the mother in June, 

 July, August, September, October, November, and December, 

 but usually only one is near. Linklater, my chief informant 

 in that region, has known the mother and 3 young to be 

 killed at one shot, in September. 



It is always important to know the relation that the father father 

 bears to the family. Is he merely a selfish progenitor, con- 

 cerned about his partner or partners only in the mating season } 

 Or does he faithfully play the part of a helpmate and join with 

 the mother in caring for the young. 



It is impossible to decide for the Otter. Most observers 

 think that the species pairs, that is to say, is not polygamous, 

 but that the bond is broken with the waning of the honey- 

 moon. Miles Spencer expressly says* that, about Hudson 

 Bay, the female gets no assistance from the male while rearing 

 the young. Other field naturalists think that the male does 

 sometimes join in caring for his ofi^spring. J. K. MacDonald, 

 of Winnipeg, after many years among the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany's Posts, writes me: 



"I do not think the male is ever far away from his hole 

 or family. The fact that the female is seen with the young 

 more often than the male, I think, simply carries out the natural 

 law of progeny being more directly under the care of the female, 

 while the male roams about, but never is far away. In the 

 cases cited of females only being seen, there is nothing to dis- 

 prove that the males, though not visible to the seer, may have 

 been within a few yards of him." 



' Low Expl. James Bay, Can. Geol. Surv., 1888, Pt. J, App. Ill, p. 77 J. 



