THE OTTERS 3OI 



it is viewed, but is generally of a rich brown tint, intermixed with 

 whitish-gray. This color is lighter along the back and the outside of 

 the legs than on the other parts of the body, which are ot a paler grayish 

 hue. Its habitation is made in the bank of the river which it frequents, 

 and is rather inartificial in its character, as the creature is fonder of 

 occupying some natural crevice or deserted excavation than of digging 

 a burrow for itself. The nest of the Otter is composed of dry rushes, 

 flags, or other aquatic plants, and is purposely placed as near the water 

 as possible, without danger of being inundated. 



The Otter can be easily trained to hunt for its master. In the East 

 Indies tame otters are nearly as common as tame dogs with us ; and in 

 Germany and England many tame otters have been described. 



The mode of instruction which is followed in the education of the 

 Otter is sufficiently simple. The creature is by degrees weaned from its 

 usual fish diet, and taught to live almost wholly on bread and milk ; the 

 onlv fish-like article which it is permitted to see being a leathern cari- 

 cature of the finny race, with which the young Otter is habituated to 

 play, as a kitten plays with a crumpled paper or a cork, which does tem- 

 porary duty for a mouse. When the animal has accustomed itself to 

 chase and catch the artificial fish, and to give it into the hand of its 

 master, the teacher extends his instructions by drawing the leathern 

 image smartly into the water by means of a string, and encouraging his 

 pupil to plunge into the stream after the lure and bring it ashore. As 

 soon as the young Otter yields the leathern prey, it is rewarded by some 

 dainty morsel which its teacher is careful to keep at hand, and soon 

 learns to connect the two circumstances together. 



The North American Otter, Liitra Canadensis (Plate XX), diflfers 

 from the European Otter by the large size of the naked muzzle and by 

 the skull. It is now exceedingly scarce, and is hunted for its highly 

 prized fur. There are two kinds of this fur, an under coat, very fine and 

 soft, and an outer one, long, coarse, and shining. Audubon tamed sev- 

 eral Otters that had the run of his library, and used to climb into his lap. 



It is very shy, building its dwelling close to the banks of a running 

 stream. It has a most remarkable habit of " coasting." In winter it 

 selects a high bank of snow, and slides down it head-foremost ; in summer 

 it indulges in the same game on a steep river bank ending in deep water. 

 Audubon saw two Otters make twenty-two descents in succession on 

 one of these slides without intermission. 



