FUR ANIMALS. 451 



pecially where the fur companies have depots. The sys- 

 tem of capturing it varies in different quarters ; but, as a 

 rule, the idea is to conceal a steel-trap in or near the water 

 in places which it is known to frequent, and these are 

 readily detected by the slides which it makes down an 

 embankment to a stream or a lake. 



The American otter differs from the European in a few 

 minor details. It is larger, has a shorter tail, and the fur 

 of the abdomen is as glossy as that of the back. The fur 

 is very fine, and somewhat waved, and in summer it is short 

 and nearly black, but in winter it turns to a handsome red- 

 dish-brown. It resembles that of the beaver in character, 

 but seems shorter. The length of an adult is about five 

 feet, and the tail about eight inches. It is seldom seen 

 during the day, yet I have had a shot at one early in the 

 morning and toward sunset. Shooting it is of little use, 

 however; for, unless it is on land, the probability is that 

 it will sink in the water and be lost. Trapping it is there- 

 fore the only reliable method of capturing it, to make its 

 skin useful in commerce. This animal has one litter of 

 young iu a year, and they are brought forth in a burrow 



THE OTTEIi. 



close to the water about the month of April. Were it 

 hunted with otter hounds it would afford capital sport, as 

 it is almost as common as the beaver in many places. 



The connecting link between the preceding animal and 

 the seal family seems to be the sea-otter (HJnhydra marina), 

 whose habitat extends from Alaska to California. This 

 lover of boisterous waves is probably the most valuable 

 fur animal known, its skin being worth from forty to ninety 



