180 



travel in definite routes, folio \ving one water course for a number of 

 days or weeks, and returning by anotlier. 



" The nest of the otter is generally placed under some shelving 

 bank, or u])rooted ti-ee, and has been found in a hollow stub. The 

 young are commonly brought forth about the middle of April, and two 

 (rarely one or thi-ee) constitute a litter. Three ottei'S, the female and 

 her two young, ai-e generally seen together during the summer and 

 fall. 



" At all times and on all occasions they manifest an insatiate and 

 uncontrollable desire to break the peace with any dog that chances to 

 cross their path — -iind woe to the unfortunate brute I " 



The extraordinary pugnacity referred to by Dr. Merriam may 

 possibly occur in certain cases, and may, perhaps, be superinduced by 

 age. With domesticated otters up to the age of two years, so far as 

 my daily experience has enabled me to form an opinion, I am obliged 

 to pronounce their demeanor towards dogs to have been of the most 

 friendly and pacific character. On every occasion both of my pet 

 otters were almost affectionate in their adv^ances to their cinine friends. 

 I have heai'd also of other tame otters that had been kept for a num- 

 ber of years, at least four or five, that bore a character of the mildest 

 kind under the circumstances. AVild otters, of course, are always 

 ready for a fight. 



Essentially differing from nearly every other species of the family 

 Mitslelidce, the otter is peculiar for the total absence of that mephitic 

 and unpleasant odor which so strongly characterizes the skunk, the 

 mink and the weasel. Even the apartment in which an otter has 

 been confined for months is completely free from anything resembling 

 the heavy, disagreeable smell of a dog kennel. 



From personal observation I can fully corroborate Dr. Merriam's 

 account of the exterminating manner in which the otter levies contri- 

 bution upon the cray-fish. In the course of half an hour either of the 

 tame otters which I kept would capture and devour fifteen or twenty 

 of those little fresh water lobsters. They were, also, very fond of 

 mussels, or .shell fish, so common in our rivers, diving for tlieni and 

 bringing them to me on shore, and waiting with much impatience 

 while I broke them oi)en with a stone. 



