OTTAWA 



OTTERBURN 



661 



for labour. In 1823 Colonel By was sent by the 

 British government to survey the Kiileau Canal. 

 The construction of the canal ( 1827) stimulated the 

 settlement, which was called Bytown. In 1854 its 

 name was changed to Ottawa, and the town was 

 created a city. In 1861 the population was 15,000; 

 in 1871, 21,545; in 1881, including an increased 

 area, 31,307; and in 1891, 44,154 (about one-half 

 Koman Catholics); to these may l>e added about 

 15,000 in adjoining villages and suburle. In 1858 

 Ottawa was chosen as the administrative capital of 

 Canada. The first parliament met here in 1865. 



Ottawa. ( 1 ) capital of La Salle county, Illinois, 

 ('at the confluence of the Fox and Illinois rivers, 

 which are here crossed by live bridges, 82 miles by 

 rail WSVV. of Chicago. It has a mineral spring 

 rich in bromine and iodine, six glass-furnaces, mid 

 manufactures of flour, cutlery, tiles, fi reproofing, 

 organs, and pianos. Pop. 10,588. (2) Capital of 

 Franklin county, Kansas, on the Osage River 

 (crossed here by two bridges), 58 miles by rail SW., 

 of Kansas City. It contains a college, a foundry, 

 and railway-shops, and manufactures flour, furni- 

 ture, carriages, and soap. Pop. 6934. 



Otter (Lutra vulrjaris), an aquatic carnivore 

 in the family Mustelidw, which also includes the 

 badgers and weasels. It is type of a widely dis- 

 tributed genus with about twenty reputed 8|>ecie8, 

 like one another in their diving ami swimming 

 powers, in their fish-diet, in the webbing of the 

 feet, and in the brown colonr of the short, close 

 fur. In the common species, distributed through 

 Europe and Asia, the body may attain a length of 

 2$ feet, and the tail half as much; the head is broad 

 and flat, witli short, rounded ears ; the blunt snout 

 bears lateral slit-like nostrils, closed during diving; 

 the long body is covered with beautiful chestnut 

 fur; the legs are very short, but strong; the feet 



Fig. 1. Otter (Lutra vukjarit). 



are clawed as well as webbed. The otter lives in a 

 hole by the stream side, and feeds especially on 

 fish, but also on small mammals, birds, frogs, cray- 

 fishes, &c. In strength and agility, keen scent 

 and hearing, and general astuteness it deserves a 

 high rank among mammals. Its life is solitary 

 except at the pairing season in spring, after which 

 the female gives birth to three or four blind young, 

 which she guards with great care till they are able 

 to look after themselves. Being very destructive 

 to (ishes, the otter has been much hunted, ami is 

 now rare where it once almuncleil. Izaak Walton 

 gives a lively description of an otter-hunt, and tells 

 us that the ' fish-lieast will walk upon land some- 

 times five or six, or ten miles in a night,' that ' he 

 devours much fish, and kills and spoils much 

 more,' that 'he can smell a fish in the water one 

 hundred yards from him,' that 'his skin is worth 

 ten shillings to make gloves," while ' his stones are 

 good against the Fulling sickness.' The flesh is 



tasty, and, being for practical purposes that of a 

 'fish,' is allowed during fasts. The young may 

 be tamed and used for fish-catching. 



Among the other species the most remarkable 

 is the large L. saniloachii, from Demerara and 

 Surinam ; while of related genera the most striking 

 is the Sea-otter (Enhydra lutris), from the North 

 Pacific. This is a powerful otter, sometimes 4 feet 

 long and 90 Ib. in weight, with massive molars, by 

 which it is said to crush molluscs and crabs as well 



Fig. 2. Sea-otter (Enhydra lutrit). 



as fish. Its fur is valuable, and the animal is 

 consequently becoming rare. Steller, who was 

 shipwrecked on Beliring Island in the middle of 

 the 18th century, has beautifully pictured the life 

 of this interesting otter, but its habits have now 

 Income much more shy and wary, and measures 

 have had to be taken to prevent its extermination. 

 The most common otter of North America is L. 

 canadenms, much larger than the European species, 

 and ranging throughout the continent, though rare 

 in settled districts. 



Otter-hunting is practised in the early morning, 

 and at a season when nil other hunting is drawing 

 to a close. The huntsmen are armed with spears ; 

 and the true otter hound, seen best in the Carlisle 

 pack, is a liold, hardy, rough-coated dog, nearly 

 two feet high at the shoulder. Foxhounds are 

 sometimes used. 



Otterbnrn, a small village in Redesdale, 

 Northumberland, about 16 miles south of the 

 Border, and 32 miles from Newcastle, on the benty 

 uplands a little to the west of which was fought, 

 during the moonlit night of 19th August 1388, 

 what Froissart calls ' the hardest and most obsti- 

 nate battle that was ever fought.' Of a Scottish 

 army of 50,000 men which had mustered on the 

 Border, the greater part invaded England by 

 Carlisle, while 2000 foot and 300 lancers under the 

 Earls of Douglas, Dun bar, and Moray remained to 

 carry fire and sword through Northumberland and 

 Durham. On the march back, laden with spoil, 

 they lay three days before Newcastle, and in one 

 of the frequent passages of arms that occurred 

 Douglas carried away Hotspur's pennon, and 

 declared that he would plant it on his castle of 

 Dalkeith. 'By God, Earl of Douglas,' said Hot- 

 spur, ' yon shall not even bear it out of Northum- 

 Iterlami.' The Scots marched np Kedcsdale, and, 

 after failing in an attempt on Otterbnrn Tower, 

 by the desire of Douglas entrenched themselves on 

 a hill slope near, the exact site of which is some- 

 what uncertain, in order to give Percy an oppor- 

 tunity of coming to claim his pennon. The 

 chivalrous Hotspur hastened after them with 600 

 horse and over 8000 foot, and came up while the 

 Scots were at supper, whereupon a desperate hand- 

 to-hand fight at once began. Douglas was greatly 

 overmatched in numbers, and, seeing his men forced 

 back, grasped his ponderous mace in both hands 



