OTTER'S HAUNTS AND HABITS 



the course of his journeyings. Most of these holts 

 have been used by generations of otters, and many 

 a drain or other shelter long forgotten by the 

 people of the neighbourhood is still regularly 

 inhabited by Lutra and his kind. A holt may 

 consist of a tree-root on the river-bank, a dry drain, 

 or a wet one containing a dry lying place, a stick- 

 heap near the stream, or situated in a plantation at 

 some distance from the water. On the rocky 

 rivers of the North, many of the holts consist of 

 piled-up boulders on the hill-side, most of which 

 are at some distance from the nearest beck or 

 tarn. These rock holts, many of which lie at a 

 high altitude, are occupied by otters when crossing 

 from stream to stream over a watershed. In 

 summer, otters frequently " lie rough," or in other 

 words spend the day above ground. Near a lake 

 or tarn an otter will often curl up in the rushes or 

 long grass at the water's edge. If disturbed he 

 will then slide quietly into the pool, and unless 

 hunted by hounds, will not show himself again. 



Sometimes he will lie on a bank or in a hedge close 



49 D 



