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his canoe, lest his footsteps, or the touch of his hand might leave any 

 traces of the scent of an enemy en shore. A long chain is usually 

 altached to the trap, the weight of which is intended to drown the animal 

 when it plunges into deep water on finding itself caught. Otherwise, 

 it has been frequently known to gnaw it's paw off and escape. When 

 surprised alive in a traj) on land, as sometimes occurs, an otter is ex- 

 ceedingly ferocious and difficult to kill. Its strength and activity 

 under such circumstances are amazing. 



I extract the following on the otter from '• INIammals of the 

 Adirondacks," a recent most interesting and instructive work written 

 by that accomplished naturalist, Dr. Merriam, of Locust Grove, in 

 the State of New York. I quote from Dr. Merriam, not only because 

 he is an established authority as a naturalist ; but also for the reason 

 that his remarks are generally strongly corroborative of what I shall 

 say further on ; and which was written before I had the pleasure of 

 seeing his valuable book. Of the otter Dr. Merriam says : — ■ 



" It is thoroughly amphibious, making long journeys through tho 

 forest, and swimming the lakes and rivers. It can remain under water 

 almost as long as a loon, and I have known one to swim nearly a quarter 

 of a mile without showing its head above the surface. Its food con- 

 .sists chiefly of various s])ecies of fish, and the lobster-like fresh water 

 decapod, called the cray-fish. When unable to procure these in suffi- 

 cient quantity it devours frogs, and it is said to depopulate the poultry- 

 yard, and even to prey upon young lambs. It can dive and swim 

 under water with such si)eed and rapidity, that it can overtake and 

 secure with great ease and certainty any of the fresh water fislies. In 

 confinement it will eat meat, and is said to prefer it boiled. The num- 

 ber of cray-fish (Cambarus) that the otter destroys in the course of a sum- 

 mer, is almost incredible. The otter "sign" that one finds so abundantly 

 about our lakes and streams, on rocks and logs, often consist wholly of 

 the chitinous exo-skeleton of this crustacean. At other times fish- 

 bones are mingled with the broken ci ay-fish shells. Otters are restless 

 creatures, always on the move, and are constantly roaming about from 

 lake to lake, and river to river. They sometimes go from place to 

 place "just as it happens," so to speak; while at other times they 



