THE BOOK OF THE OTTER 



the dog hung about in plain sight under a bridge, 

 and remained there until the bitch was accounted 

 for, after which he himself suffered the same fate. 

 Otter-hunting is the least artificial of our British 

 field sports. The otter is a wild animal, living 

 the same free life that he has done for generations, 

 and we have yet to learn a good deal concerning 

 him. Being a great wanderer, he is here to-day 

 and gone to-morrow, and his hunting provides 

 more " glorious uncertainty " than the chase of any 

 other beast. Before you can hunt him you must 

 find him, but whereas with deer, fox, and hare, the 

 finding is often the easiest part of the business, in 

 the case of the otter it is the most difficult. In 

 a previous chapter we have made brief mention 

 of otter-hunting dress. In these days^blue is the 

 popular colour for Hunt livery, the material most 

 favoured being woollen serge. We wonder how 

 modern otter-hunters would like to wear the dress 

 mentioned by Blaine, i.e., a green dress turned up 

 with red, fur cap with gold band, and waterproof 



hip-boots decorated with red or gold tassels. 



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