L U T R A. 



many salmon and many otters, to find the former 

 with otter-bites in the upper part of their backs. 

 When an animal which catches prey by means of the 

 bite has recourse to the same against an enemy, there 

 is a similarity in the mode of applying it; and thus 

 the method to which the otter resorts, when it is at- 

 tacked, is to seize hold as firmly as it can, and retain 

 that hold, but to lay hold simply of the part which is 

 nearest to it. When taken by dogs, it is very apt 

 to seize them by the fore leg?, which are very sensi- 

 tive, and retain its hold till the bone is broken ; and 

 in those parts of the country where the otter is looked 

 upon as a formidable animal, it is said to do the same 

 and persevere to the same extent in the case of human 

 beings. It is further alleged, that experienced otter 

 hunters put cinders in their boots, in order that the 

 otter, in case of his seizing the boots, should be in- 

 duced to mistake the crushing of a cinder for the 

 breaking of a bone. That the otter, if hard pursued 

 and in danger of its life, should bite the leg of a dog, 

 or even that of a man, is highly probable ; and when 

 it does bite, it always bites very sharply ; but that it 

 should quit its hold upon hearing the snap of a broken 

 bone, or anv other sound, is so much at variance with 

 the habits of the animal that it cannot be true. There 

 seems to be as much truth in this as there is in the 

 similar allegation, that the seal intentionally throws 

 stones against those who pursue it on the shingly 

 beaches ; but there is certainly not any more. 



There are some stories of alarm produced through 

 fear of the otter, which, if they were in the hands of 

 such a describer as Scott, might bear a comparison 

 with the story of the phoca. We shall give the out- 

 lines of one : A gentleman of the northern part of 

 this island, equally eminent for learning, for humour, 

 and for angling, but dashed a little with all with the 

 prejudices respecting animals which reside by the 

 highly picturesque streams of that part of the island, 

 was one day threshing the water with his fly, and his 

 zeal was rewarded by a trout of goodly size, which 

 so excited him that he put it in his basket, without 

 depriving it of life. A friend and he had been a few 

 minutes before talking of otters, of which some were 

 known to inhabit the banks of the river in question, 

 and the danger of their bite, and their proneness to 

 erive it, had been eloquently descanted on by the gen- 

 tlemen in question. In tlie course of a few minutes 

 his hook got fast in the herbage just by the margin 

 of the water, and he lay down on the shelving and 

 tangled bank in order to reach it : when he was fully 

 stretched, the basket with the trout swung down a 

 little, and the trout gave a violent wriggle. The axis 

 of his body was nearly at an angle of forty-five de- 

 grees ; and as his head was a little heavier than his 

 heels, the heels rose in his effort to escape, and he 

 fairly pitched a summerset into the river nearly chin 

 deep in water, and with his face to the bank. The 

 cause of this unexpected evolution and immersion, 

 was a certain belief on his part, that the sound made 

 by the wriggle of the trout proceeded from an otter 

 whose strong hold he had invaded, and which was in 

 the very act of fastening upon him in his defenceless 

 position. 



In times of abundance, especially when the salmon 

 are ascending the rivers in high perfection, for the 

 purpose of depositing their spawn, the otter is de- 

 scribed as being dainty in its eating, and satisfying 

 itself with the single piece which it can bite from the 

 nape of the salmon, leaving the remainder of the 



fish to its fate ; and it is also said that the people re- 

 siding on the banks are aware of the time that this is 

 likely to take place, and knowing also that the otter 

 is a connoisseur in his fish as well as his morsel, thry 

 watch his motions, and obtain an excellent supply 

 from what he has left. 



It has been already mentioned that salt or fresh 

 water is indifferent to the otter as an element in which 

 to perform its operations ; and accordingly, though 

 it prefers the fresh waters in those parts of the coun- 

 try where these abound with fish, and in the salmon 

 rivers above all others, there are other situations in 

 which even the European otter resorts to the sea, 

 and practises its fishing along with, and much in the 

 same manner as the seal. This occurs in the northern 

 islands, and in various other places ; and it generally 

 takes place at those times of the year when the ani- 

 rnal is driven from the inland rivers by severe frosts, 

 or by scarcity of food. 



When it is expelled from the waters by storms of 

 frost or snow, it can alter its habit and become pre- 

 datory upon the land ; and when it does so, it can 

 range to some distance, approaching farmyards, where 

 it kills small or young animals, and to rabbit warrens, 

 in which last it is very destructive, as it pursues the 

 rabbits through the intricacies of their burrows with 

 all the facility of a ferret. It is then that the cap- 

 ture of it affords the best sport, because there is a 

 run upon the land, and the hunters always endeavour 

 to get between it and the water, if there is any hole 

 by which it can enter, or any pool left unfrozen. 

 When it gains the unfrozen water, the capture of it 

 becomes no easy matter ; for having so much more 

 command of itself than even the most expert water- 

 dogs, arid being apt to seize them and keep them 

 below longer than they can bear, it is difficult to pro- 

 cure it in any other way than by shooting. The time 

 for doing this is when it comes up to the surface to 

 breaihe, or to " vent," as it is technically called ; but 

 this requires quickness, as a small portion only appears 

 above the water, and that but for a short time. Al- 

 together, and without any regard to the mercantile 

 value of its skin, which fetches a considerable price, 

 the otter is an interesting animal, as being the only 

 one of its kind found in Britain, or indeed in Europe. 

 It is true that some continental ones have been men- 

 tioned more marked with white spots than otters 

 usually are ; but as the spots upon them are not con- 

 stant, either in size or colour, those which are more 

 spotted can be considered only as accidental varie- 

 ties. The flesh of the otter is not eaten at the pre- 

 sent time, at least in this country ; but in Catholic 

 times it was used on meagre days, and during Lent, 

 and may be so still in some Catholic countries ; for 

 in the systematic arrangement of animals according 

 to the canons of that church, the otter is a fish. 



THE SEA OTTER (L. marina), is about three feet 

 and a half long in the body ; but the tail is much 

 shorter in proportion than in any of the other otters, 

 being about, fifteen inches in length. The general 

 colour is a beautiful maroon brown, though in some 

 specimens it is clouded with other colours ; and the 

 head, the neck, and the under parts of the fore legs 

 are brownish silver grey. The skin of this animal is 

 accounted the finest of all furs, both in texture and 

 durability, and on this account it is the most costly of 

 the whole, a single skin often bringing in the markets 

 of China and Japan, where furs are in great request, 

 no less a price than twenty pounds. The Russians, 



