158 MAMMALS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY. 



fish, eel, shrimp, fresh-water mussels and probably such tender-shelled bivalves 

 as are found in the bays frequented by them are also eaten. In the water, 

 the grace, swiftness and agility of this animal excite admiration. It can re- 

 main a long time beneath the surface, twisting and doubling in the chase, 

 leaping out and diving again as its victim breaks cover, and bringing the 

 prey to the bank when caught to eat it, devouring first the head as the most 

 delicate part. On land this animal is by no means awkward, often traversing 

 miles in the rutting season or in winter in a cross-country search for its com- 

 rades or for better hunting grounds. On such occasions it takes a direct 

 course, often crossing hilly and open country to attain its object. When 

 snow is on the ground it alternately leaps and slides along, taking advantage 

 of every slope for a long slide and often diving under the snow for long dis- 

 tances. This method of locomotion is so swift that Richardson says a swift 

 runner on snow-shoes often finds trouble to overtake and capture one. God- 

 man says, " Their favorite sport is sliding, and for this purpose in winter the 

 highest ridge of snow is selected, to the top of which the otters scramble, 

 where, lying on the belly with the fore feet bent backwards, they give them- 

 selves an impulse with their hind legs and swiftly glide head foremost down 

 the declivity, sometimes for the distance of twenty yards. This sport they 

 continue apparently with the keenest enjoyment until fatigue or hunger in- 

 duces them to desist." Snow is not necessary for this enjoyment. They 

 relish a steep mud slide and plunge from a creek or river bank into the 

 depths of a pool at all seasons quite as much. I discovered such a slide on 

 the banks of the Pennsaukin Creek near Lenola, Burlington Co., N. J., a few 

 years ago. This was in the near vicinity of a great otter den to which I will 

 allude later on. The slide was on the face of a blue clay exposure of the up- 

 per marl bed, rising directly from the waters of the tide marsh to a height of 

 40 feet and at an angle of 65 or 70 degrees. The slide began at about 30 

 feet above the water and descended to it, where now only a small stream re- 

 presents the main body of the creek which once ran deep and wide against 

 this wall of mud. So steep was this slide, and when wet, and in use, so slip- 

 pery, it would have been useless for sporting purposes without a diving pool 

 at the bottom. This, no doubt, was its former condition, but the creek hav- 

 ing been deflected to the opposite side of the marsh it was used at the time 

 I discovered it only as a path ; the otters having been previously driven from 

 their home in that place by the extensive excavations of a brick and terra 

 cotta works in the clay bed. 



The otters of the middle and southern states are said by Audubon to have 

 their young in March, the number being from i to 3 in a litter. Owing to 

 the high value always maintained in the world's markets for the fur of this 

 animal, it is the more wonderful how it has escaped extinction in common 

 with other fur-bearing American species. Over 11,000 pelts were reported 



