228 The Hunting Field With Horse and Hound 



weasel, to which family he belongs. He lives on land, but is 

 especially at home in the water. His short legs make him a 

 bit awkward on land, and it is in the water that the beautiful 

 adaptation of his conformation to his habits and mode of pur- 

 suing his game is most strikingly exhibited. He is lolig in body 

 (from snout to tail, twenty-six to twenty-eight inches, from 

 three feet to three and one half from tip to tip), but stands 

 only about four or five inches high. He is provided with 

 big web feet, and has a sleek coat of brownish fur that slips 

 through the water as if it were greased, all of wliich enables 

 him to dart about under water with the greatest ease and 

 speed. He is hthe and serpentine in his movements, assisted 

 by a long stout tail wliich does duty as a rudder to steer him 

 about, and as a propeller as well. He is armed with a very 

 sharp set of teeth that are particularly adapted to holding 

 their slippery game and from which none of the animals he 

 preys upon need hope to escape. They are professional 

 poachers by trade and artists in catching fish. Although a fish 

 is shy, wary and quick, the otter can go it one better at every 

 play, and generally wins. They won't mind my saying that 

 although they have not the craft and cimning of a fox or the 

 speed of the deer, still they are as artful and evasive as his 

 Satanic Majesty. They can give even the shifty hare points 

 in dodging, while no ghost or phantom can match them in the 

 art of appearing and disappearing, and appearing again where 

 least expected. For keeping hounds and followers guessing 

 until they don't know their own names, they have, among 

 animals, no equal. 



" 'Tis here: 'tis there: 'tis gone." 



'As a family they are a roving band of gypsies. If one is 

 here to-day it is a sure sign he will be somewhere else to-mor- 

 row. They travel long distances at night, and sleep in a drain, 

 which they enter under water and follow to a convenient rest- 



