54 
THE OREGON NATURALIST. 
try it all he has to do is to seek a position 
commanding a good view of the place the 
otter is in the habit of frequenting just at 
dusk or early dawn and wait, and as the 
Indians say “She no comee today; comee 
tomorrow; no comee tomorrow, comee 
next week’’. Otter are also hunted with 
hounds but the writer has never known 
of this most splendid sport being practised 
in Oregon. The commonest way is to 
trap them and it is done in the following 
manner. First locate a slide but if possi- 
ble do not approach nearer than ten feet 
(except in the water) for Otter have ex- 
tremely keen scent and it needs only a 
suspicion of danger to put them on the 
alert when your chances of catching them 
are gone. 
If the slide enters the water and the 
water is less than six inches deep at the 
foot of the slide then your trap should be 
set at the foot of the slide in the water. 
A number three (3) steel trap is the best 
Size to use and the trapper should provide 
himself with a long slim pole over which 
the ring that is attached to every trap 
chain can slip from one end to the other 
with ease. First set your trap then ap- 
proach the slide by wading through the 
water. Do not touch anything on land 
with the naked hand. 
Lay your trap in the water at the foot 
of the slide with the springs at right angles 
to the slide, now run the end of your long 
pole out into as deep water as it will reach 
and jam it firmly into the bottom, then 
pass the ring over the other end and with 
a notched stick peg it down under water. 
See that the ring is free to run down the 
pole. This is done for the following 
reasons, when the Otter strikes the trap 
he will at once dive for deep water when 
the ring will run down the pole and drown 
him. Remember that if the Otter is not 
free to travel with the trap he will eat his 
limb off and escape. 
This is the commonest and best method 
of setting an Otter trap but circumstances 
will often render it necessary for the trap- 
per to use other tactics when experience 
is the only teacher that can ‘‘tell how.” 
BERNARD J. BRETHERTON. 
THE DENNY PHEASANT. 
Phastanus torquatus, 
The Denny Pheasant sometimes called 
the China ring-neck or Mongolian pheas- 
ant was first introduced to the State of 
Oregon by the Hon. O. N. Denny, United 
States Consul-General, at Shanghai, 
China, in the year 1881, when 70 birds 
were shipped, by sailing vessel to Puget 
Sound, and arrived with out the loss of a 
bird. From there they were to be re- 
shipped to A. H. Morgan of Portland Ore. 
A serious blunder was committed on 
Puget Sound by not following directions 
which were explicit, and which Mr. Den- 
ny had written in the vessel’s log-book in 
order that there should be no mistake and 
their safe arrival assured. In reshipping 
these instructions were not literally follow- 
ed and as a result only 15 pheasants ar- 
rived alive, twelve cocks and three hens, 
these being the only survivors of the first 
shipment that included several species of 
pheasant. In the spring these fifteen birds 
were liberated near the mouth of the 
Willamette River, and two of the three 
hens were reported as observed with 
young that season. They slowiy spread 
finally crossing the Willamette and Col- 
umbia rivers. 
The uncertainty about Oregon ever re- 
‘ceiving any benefit firom this lot caused 
Judge Denny, in the following year, 1882, 
to ship another lot; numbering 28 or 35 
birds, all ring-necks, the hens being in ex- 
cess of the cocks. 
This lot was shipped by sailing vessel 
direct to Portland, consigned as before to 
A. H. Morgan, with instructions to send 
