OTTER 



4430 



OTTO I 



after their principal food of fish. On land they 

 delight in tobogganing down muddy slopes or 

 icy hills. Common river otters make their 

 homes in burrows in hanks of streams or in 

 caves above ground. Between February and 



April two or three baby otters are 



born. 



^ The American, or Canadian, ot- 



*C~: t<r, an animal about four and a 



half feet long, including the tail, 

 is especially plentiful in Canada. About 6,009 

 of them, valued at about f-20 each, are killed 

 in that country each year; during the last 

 century 1,500,000 otter skins were sent to the 

 London market from North America alone. 

 The fur is used chiefly for coat linings, collars. 

 cuffs and gloves. After the outer long hairs are 

 removed the fur is often dyed a seal color and 

 sold as a substitute for that fur. See FUR AND 

 FUR TRADE. 



Sea otters, found only on North Pacific 

 coasts, are becoming rare. They very much 

 resemble seals. Unlike river otters, they do 

 not eat fish, but live on clams, crabs and mus- 

 sels. Their tails are short, and their fur is soft 

 and of a deep, lustrous black. It is one of the 

 most valuable of furs, a perfect skin being 

 known to sell for $2,000. People of Russia and 

 China esteem it highly, and in the latter coun- 

 try it was used to trim the state robes of the 

 mandarins in the days of the Empire. 



Sea otters are very shy and cautious. They 

 are captured by spearing, shooting, clubbing 

 and netting. This species bears but one off- 

 spring at a time, and at any season of the 

 year. Chinese fishermen have taught otters to 

 help them in their task of fishing, just as they 

 have the cormorant (which see). An Indian 

 species is also trained to this work by natives 

 of Bengal. M.S. 



Consult Seton's Life Histories of Northern Ani- 

 mals ; Stone and Cram's American Animals. 



OTTER, SIR WILLIAM DILLON (1843- ), a 

 Canadian soldier, who rendered notable service 

 in the Saskatchewan, or second Kiel, Rebellion 

 and in the South African War, and for half a 

 century was active and prominent in Canadian 

 military affairs. Otter was born near Clinton, 



Out., and was educated at the Goderich gram- 

 mar, school, the Toronto Model School and Up- 

 per Canada College. Joining the militia in 

 1861, when he was only eighteen years old, he 

 took an active part in halting the Fenian raids 

 in 1866. In 1869 he was promoted to the rank 

 of major, and in 1874 became lieutenant-colo- 

 nel. A year later he was conspicuous in sup- 

 pivssing the Pilgrimage riots at Toronto, and 

 two years later served during the Grand Trunk 

 riots at Belleville. 



From 1883 to 1889 he was commandant of the 

 Royal School of Infantry at Toronto. This 

 service was interrupted by the Saskatchewan 

 Rebellion of 1885. Colonel Otter commanded 

 the center, or Battleford, column, and with his 

 troops made a forced march of 190 miles in 

 five and a half days. His command succeeded 

 in preventing a junction of the forces of Riel 

 and Big Bear, thus being one of the important 

 factors in ending the uprising. During the 

 South African War, General Otter again saw 

 active service as commander of the first Cana- 

 dian contingent. He was from 1886 to 1905 

 commander of the second military district of 

 the Dominion, and was then until 1908 in com- 

 mand of the Western Ontario district. From 

 1908 to 1910 he was chief of the general staff, 

 and from 1910 to 1912 inspector-general and 

 chief military adviser to the Minister of Mili- 

 tia. In the latter year he retired from active 

 service. King George V created him a knight 

 in 1914. 



OTTO I, ot'o (1815-1867), king of Greece, 

 the second son of King Louis I of Bavaria. 

 He was born at Salzburg and educated at the 

 University of Munich. In 1832 the Conference 

 of London suggested him for the throne of 

 Greece, the National Assembly concurred in 

 the choice, and the new king bade fair to be 

 popular. For three years a regency governed, 

 but in 1835 he took matters into his own hands, 

 and it became apparent almost at once that 

 his reign would not please the people. Taxes 

 were heavy, the king's Bavarian counselors 

 were hated, and the queen> Amalie of Olden- 

 burg, was felt to have too large a share in the 

 government. 



In 1843 a revolutionary outbreak compelled 

 Otto to grant a constitution and to appoint 

 Greek ministers, but the difficulties increased 

 rather than lessened, and the wavering policy 

 of the government during the Crimean War in- 

 censed the people, who wished to interfere on 

 the side of the Russians. In 1862 a military ris- 

 ing compelled him to flee the country. Otto 



