4:8 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



From a single occurrence, I am disposed to believe that 

 they have what we may call a whistle, or whistle-like 

 scream, uttered occasionally when several of them are 

 met together. My reasons for thinking so are founded 

 upon an incident that happened several years ago. While 

 bobbing for eels in Watson's Creek, near by, one pleasant 

 moonlight night in August, my attention was drawn to 

 a commotion in the water, about fifty "yards distant. I 

 quickly raised the " bob," and gave my whole attention 

 to the splashing and dashing, which were evidently caused 

 by some three or four animals of large size. What they 

 were I could not positively determine; but they were 

 evidently too large for minks, and I could hardly believe 

 that they were musk-rats. The clear light of the harvest 

 moon, however, enabled me to see that mammals of some 

 kind were either fighting or playing on and about a half- 

 sunken log, one portion of which projected a short distance 

 above the surface of the water. At three different times, 

 one, and, as it seemed, the largest of these animals was 

 alone upon the projecting portion of the log, the others 

 at the time being nowhere visible. At each time that 

 this unknown creature was thus alone, it uttered a pecul- 

 iar cry or call, which may be described as commencing 

 with a low whistle and ending with a hiss. The sound 

 was unlike anything that I had ever heard, and, while 

 somewhat cat-like, would never be mistaken for the cry 

 of that animal. Each time the animal made this sound, 

 it appeared to raise itself on its hind-feet and then dived, 

 when almost immediately the other two or three appeared 

 and mounted the log. There was not sufficient light for 

 me to determine anything positively, but I have always 

 believed that the animals I saw and heard were a female 

 otter and her young. 



The last otter that I saw alive was in February, 1874. 



