474 



Crotfurg ol Natural $f 



living fish. Otters generally bring forth their 

 young under hollow banks, on a bed of 

 rushes, flags, or such weeds as the place 

 affords in greatest quantities. They are 

 always found at the edge of the water ; and 

 when under the. protection of the dam, she 

 teaches them instantly to plunge into the 

 tieep, and escape from their pursuers among 

 the rushes or weeds that fringe the stream ; 

 and, except in the absence of the parent, they 

 are not to be easily taken. When the Otter, 

 in its wild state, has taken a fish, it carries 

 it on shore, and devours the head and upper 

 parts, rejecting the remainder. The female 

 produces four or five young in the spring of 

 the year. 



There are numerous instances on record of 

 their being tamed and educated ; one of 

 which we copy, as peculiarly interesting, 

 from the Journal of the late Bishop Heber : 

 " We passed," says this exemplary prelate, 

 " to my surprise, a row of no less than nine 

 or ten large and very beautiful Otters, [we 

 presume, of the species Lutra nair, F. Cuv.] 

 tethered with straw collars and long strings 

 to bamboo stakes on the banks (of the Matta 

 Colly). Some were swimming about at the 

 full extent of their strings, or lying half in 

 and half out of the water ; others were rolling 

 themselves in the sun on the sandy bank, 

 uttering a shrill, whistling noise, as if in 

 play. I was told that most of the fishermen 

 in this neighbourhood kept one or more of 

 these animals, who were almost as tame as 

 dogs, and of great use in fishing : sometimes 

 driving the shoals into the nets, sometimes 

 bringing out the larger fish with their teeth. 

 I was much pleased and interested with the 

 sight. It has always been a fancy of mine 

 that the poor creatures whom we waste and 

 persecute to death, for no cause but the gra- 

 tification of our cruelty, might by reasonable 

 treatment be made the sources of abundant 

 amusement and advantage to us." 



In the older annals of sporting in this 

 country, Otter-hunting holds no inconsider- 

 able place ; and it is even still practised oc- 

 casionally with dogs especially trained for 

 the sport. " When the Otter is found," says 

 Mr. Bell (Hist, of Brit. Quad.), " the scene 

 becomes exceedingly animated. He instantly 

 takes the water and dives, remaining a long 

 time underneath it, and rising at a consider- 

 able distance from the place at which he 

 dived. Then the anxious watch that is kept 

 for his rising to ' vent,' the steady purpose 

 with which the dogs follow and bait him as 

 he swims, the attempts of the cunning beast 

 to drown his assailants by diving whilst they 

 have fastened on him, the baying of the 

 hounds, the cries of the hunters, and the 

 fierce and dogged resolution with which the 

 poor hopeless quarry holds his pursuers at 

 bay, inflicting severe.sometimes fatal wounds, 

 and holding on witlx unflinching pertinacity 

 even to the last, must altogether form a 

 scene as animated and exciting as the veriest 

 epicure in hunting could desire." 



The following interesting paper on the 

 Breeding of the Otter in confinement in the 

 Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, in 1846 ; 

 by James Hunt, Head Keeper ; was read at 

 a meeting of the Society, March 28. 1847 : 



" The female Otter was presented to the 

 Society by Lady Rolle on the 4th of February, 

 1840, being apparently at that time about 

 three months old. She remained without 

 a male till the llth of March, 1846, when a 

 large male was presented to the Society by 

 the Rev. P. M. Brunwin,of Braintree, Essex, 

 in whose possession it had been for some 

 months, and had been kept in a cellar. His 

 weight when first taken was twenty-one 

 pounds, but he was not above half that 

 weight when he arrived at the Gardens, 

 having wasted much in confinement, and 

 become very weak in the loins, from which 

 he soon recovered after his arrival. About 

 a month after his arrival there was a con- 

 tinual chattering between him and the female 

 during the night, which lasted for four or 

 five nights ; but they did not appear to be 

 quarrelling. Nothing further was observed 

 in their manners or in the appearance of 

 the female to make me think she was with 

 young, until the morning of the 13th of 

 August, when the keeper that has the charge 

 of them went to give them a fresh bed, which 

 he does once a week ; while in the act of 

 pulling out the old bed he observed two 

 young ones, apparently five or six days old, 

 and about the size of a full-grown rat : he 

 immediately put back the bed, with the 

 young on it, and left them. On the 21st the 

 niother removed them to the second sleep- 

 ing-den, at the other end of their enclosure, 

 and several times after she was observed to 

 remove them from one end of the house to 

 the other, by pushing them before her on a 

 little straw: her object in removing them 

 appeared to be to let them have a dry bed : 

 on the 9th of September they were first seen 

 out of the house ; they did not go into .the 

 water, but crawled about, and appeared very 



"On the 26th of September they were first 

 seen to eat fish, and follow the mother into 

 the water : they did not dive into the water 

 like the mother, but went into it like a dog, 

 with their head above water, and it was not 

 until the middle of October that they were 

 observed to plunge into the water like the 

 old ones. On the 22nd of December the 

 water was let out of the pond for the purpose 

 of cleaning it, which is done once a week : 

 the animals were shut up in their sleeping- 

 den, but they let themselves out when the 

 pond was but half full of water, and the 

 young ones got into it and were not able to 

 get out without assistance ; after they had 

 been in the water some minutes the mother 

 appeared very anxious to get them out, and 

 made several attemps to reach them from 

 the side of the pond where she was standing; 

 but this she was not able to do, as they were 

 not within her reach. After making several 

 attempts in this manner without success, she 

 plunged into the water to them, and began 

 to play with one of them for a short time, 

 and put her head close to its ears, as if she 

 was making it understand what she meant ; 

 the next moment she made a spring out of 

 the pond, with the young one holding on by 

 the fur at the root of the tail with its teeth ; 

 having safely landed it, she got the other out 

 in the same manner : this she did several 



