OTTER NETS. 383 



singularly fortunate if on making its appearance it be 

 not either sliot or speared. ^ 



Not unfrequently the Otter-hunter makes use of a 

 net made of fine twine, with meshes of about two inches 

 square. It is somewhat in the form of a sack, and of 

 about the like breadth and depth as the stream or brook 

 where it is used. Its depth is considerable, and it gra- 

 dually tapers towards the extremity, or bag, at the end 

 of which is a large float in the shape of a cross or of a 

 half-moon. The mouth of the net is provided with a 

 lelning, or line, the under part of which is weighted 

 with leads or stones, and to the upper are attached 

 corks, or in lieu thereof oval pieces of birch bark or 

 some light wood. About the middle of the net, again, 

 is a second and still stouter line threading the several 

 meshes, by means of which the " bag " itself can be 

 closed at pleasure. The net is placed across the stream ; 

 and when the man who keeps watch over it sees the 

 "float" carried under water he knows the enemy is 

 within the toils, and on pulling the line last mentioned 

 the prize is secured as in a lady's reticvile. Even should 

 the river or brook be frozen over, the net may be used 

 to advantage. One man guards it whilst his companion, 

 starting from above, thumps the ice with a billet of wood 

 in his progress doimiioarcls ; and when he has succeeded 

 in rousing the Otter from its lair, he drives it before him 

 until enveloped in the toils. 



In the winter the Otter not unfrequently secretes 

 itself during the daytime under the so-called landlmllen ; 

 that is, the ice formed on the shores of lakes or rivers 

 at the first settinc: in of the frost when the water is 

 usually pretty high, but which ice, when the latter 

 subsequently recedes, is often quite hollow beneath, 

 being merely supported by loose stones, whereon it may 

 chance to rest. "When in such a situation the dog has 



