CHAPTER TWELVE THE OTTER 



H 



A V I N G lately seen the tracks of three or four 

 otters about the edge of the burn, I had some 

 strongtrapsplaced on a sandbank where they 

 were in the nightly habit of landing. For some 

 unknown reason of their own, they appeared to leave the 

 water at this bank,and,aftergoinground some alder bushes, 

 to return again to the pool. We placed the traps with great 

 care, fastening them strongly, and covering them with sand. 

 Before setting the trap for an otter, both the hands of the 

 person who sets it and the trap itself shouldbe well washed 

 and rubbed with sand.in order to take away the human scent 

 as much as possible. After setting the trap, a small branch 

 of a tree should be used tosmooth the ground and obliterate 

 all footmarks, and then dipping the branch in the water, the 

 whole place should be well sprinkled, which generally does 

 away with all marks o f people having been about it. As otters 

 invariably have some particular points at which they leave 

 the water, it is easy to know where to place the trap. They 

 do not, however, always haunt the same part of a stream, 

 so the trapper must have some patience. After our traps had 

 been set for two nights, we found, on going to them in the 

 morning, that an otter had been caught, and by twisting the 

 chain round the root of a tree had contrived to break it,and 

 escape with the trap on its leg. I sent home for my retriever, 

 who, from having been severely bitten by other otters, was 

 very eager in pursuing them. We hunted up and down the 

 burn for some time in vain; at last we found his track and 

 that of the trap in the sand at a shallow place of the water. 

 This encouraged us, and we renewed our search. At last, 

 nearly a mile from where the trap had been set, the dog be- 

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