CHAPT. xx. Tin Indian Otter. 



" legs soon failed it, and it soon grew weary. It would amuse i 1 

 '• with dogs and rats as well as with their masters ; but it was a rough 

 " play-fellow, and required to bo treated cautiously, for it bit sharply. 

 " It never harmed poultry or any other animal excepting sucking-pigs, 

 " which were not safe within its reach, and it would have killed them 

 " if it had not been prevented. It entered all the rooms, and slept 

 " always below the bed, was very very cleanly, and always visited one 

 " particular spot for the deposit of its excrements." 



Lastly. I must -ive the reader an extract from our eminent 

 Indian Naturalist Jerdon's work on "The Mammals of India," 

 where he treats of •• The common Indian Otter " which lie calls 

 Lutni ii'tir: — 



" Accepting the synonymy as above,* then, this otter is found 

 " throughout all India, from the extreme South and Ceylon, to the 

 " foot of the Himalayas, and from the Indus to Burmah and Malayana, 

 " frequenting alike rivers and salt water inlets, and from the level of 

 " the sea to a considerable elevation. It has its lair under large rocks, 

 "among boulders; and, in alluvial countries, excavates extensive 

 " burrows, generally in some elevated spot close to the river, 

 " with numerous entrances. It is almost always found in parties of 

 " five, six, or more, and, though partly nocturnal in its habits, may 

 " often be seen hunting after the sun is high, and some time before sun- 

 " set. I have seen a party out in the sea, on the Malabar coast, 

 " probably making their way from one backwater to another, but as 



• Fam. Mustelidce, Weasels and Martens. Lutra Nair. 



F. Curier — L. chinensis and L. indica; Gray — L. tarayensis ; Hodgson — Elliot, 

 Cat 15. Blyth, fat 21k Pom-tufa, H. ; Nir-nai, Can.; Xeeru-kuka, Tel. ;— all 

 signifjing water-dog. — Jal Manjer, Mahr., i.e., water-eat. Ud or Hud, Udni 

 rdbillau, Hindi. 



The Common Indian Otter. 



" Description. — Above hair brown, or light chestnut-brown, in some grizzled 

 " with hoary tip*, in others with a tinge of isabella yellow ; beneath yellowish-white, 

 " or reddish-white ; upper lips, sides of head and neck, chin, and throat, whitish, 

 '• the line of separation between the two colours more or less distinctly marked ; in 

 " some the throat tinged with irange brown; paws, albescent in some, simply of a 

 "lighter shade in others; tail, brown beneath. F. Cuvier, in Ins description, 

 "mentions some pale facial spot-, but these arc indistinct, though there is some- 

 " times a faint pale eyebrow. 



"Total length up to 46 inches, of which the tail is 17, and 3 inches wide at the 

 • base 



" I have followed Bljth in joining L. Voir and /- Indira, thongh at one t i-n.- 1 



