HABITS OF OTTERS. 315 



From the fact that this occurs in most cases darinj^ winter, 

 about the period of the rutting season, we are inclined to the 

 belief that this propensity may be traced to those instincts 

 which lead the sexes to their periodical associations/' 



The food of the Otter, and the manner in which it is pro- 

 cured, are noted by the same author in the following terms : — 



"The Otter is a very expert swimmer, and can overtake 

 almost any fish, and as it is a voracious animal, it doubtless 

 destroys a great number of fresh water fishes annually. We 

 are not aware of its having a preference for any particular 

 species, although it is highly i^robable that it has. About 

 twenty-five years ago we went early one autumnal morning to 

 study the habits of the Otter at Gordon and Spring's Ferry, 

 on the Cooper River, six miles above Charleston [S. C], where 

 they were represented as being quite abundant. They came 

 down with the receding tide in groups or families of five or six 

 together. In the space of tfro hours we counted forty-six. 

 They soon separated, ascended the different creeks in the salt 

 marshes, and engaged in capturing mullets (Mugil). In most 

 cases they came to the bank with a fish in their mouth, des- 

 patching it in a minute, and then hastened back again after 

 more prey. They returned up the river to their more secure 

 retreats with the rising tide. In the small lakes and ponds of 

 the interior of Carolina, there is found a favourite fish with the 

 Otter, called the fresh-water trout {Grystes salmoides). 



"Although the food of the Otter in general is fish, yet when 

 hard pressed by hunger it will not reject animal food of any 

 kind. Those we had in confinement, when no fish could be 

 procured w^ere fed on beef, which they always preferred boiled. 

 During the last winter we ascertained that the skeleton and 

 feathers of a wild duck were taken from an Otter's nest on the 

 banks of a rice field reserve-dam. It was conjectured that the 

 duck had either been killed or wounded by the hunters, and 

 was in this state seized by the Otter, .... 



" On throwing some live fishes into a small pond in the 

 Zoological Gardens in London, where an Otter [presumably, 

 however, of another species] was kept alive, it immediately 

 plunged off the bank after them, and soon securing one, rose 

 to the surface holding its prize in its teeth, and ascending the 

 bank, rapidly ate it by large mouthfuls, and dived into the 

 water again for another. This it repeated until it had caught 

 and eaten all the fish which had been thrown into the water for 



