AMPHIBIOUS QUADRUPEDS. 



387 



sembling those of the terrestrial kind in shape, 

 hair, and internal conformation ; resembling 

 the aquatic tribes in its manner of living, and 

 in having membranes between the toes to as- 

 sist it in swimming. From this peculiar make 

 of its feet, which are very short, it swims even 

 faster than it runs, and can overtake fishes in 

 their own element. The colour of this ani- 

 mal is brown ; and it is somewhat of the shape 

 of an overgrown weasel, being long, slender, 

 and soft-skinned. However, if we examine 

 its figure in detail, we shall find it unlike any 

 other animal hitherto described, and of such a 

 shape as words can but weakly convey. Its 

 usual length is about two feet long, from the 

 tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail ; the 

 head and nose are broad and flat ; the mouth 

 bears some similitude to that of a fish; the 

 neck is short, and equal in thickness to the 

 head ; the body long ; the tail broad at the 

 insertion, but tapering off to a point at the end ; 

 the eyes are very small, and placed nearer the 

 nose than usual in quadrupeds. The legs are 

 very short, but remarkably strong, broad, and 

 muscular. The joints are articulated so loose- 

 ly, that the animal is capable of turning them 

 quite back, and bringing them on line with 

 the body, so as to perform the office of fins. 

 Each foot is furnished with five toes, connect- 

 ed by strong broad webs like those of water- 

 fowl. Thus nature, in every part, has had 

 attention to the life of an animal whose food 

 is fish, and whose haunts must necessarily be 

 about water. 



This voracious animal is never found but at 

 the sides of lakes and rivers, but particularly 

 the former, for it is seldom fond of fishing in 

 a running stream, for the current of the water 

 having more power upon it than the fishes it 

 pursues, if it hunts against the stream, it swims 

 too slow ; and if with the stream, it overshoots 

 its prey. However, when in rivers, it is al- 

 ways observed to swim against the stream, 

 and to meet the fishes it preys upon rather 

 than to pursue them. In lakes it destroys 

 much more than it devours, and is often seen 

 to spoil a pond in the space of a few nights. 

 But the damage they do by destroying fish is 

 not so great as their tearing in pieces the nets 

 of the fishers, which they infalliby do when- 

 ever they happen to be entangled. The 

 instant they find themselves caught, they go 

 to work with their teeth, and in a few mi- 

 ne. 23 & 34 



nutes destroy nets of a very considerable 

 value. 



The otter has two different methods of fish- 

 ing ; the one, by catching its prey from the 

 bottom upward, the other, by pursuing it into 

 some little creek, and seizing it there. In the 

 former case, as this animal has longer lungs 

 than most other quadrupeds, upon taking in 

 a quantity of air, it can remain for some mi- 

 nutes at the bottom ; and whatever fish passes 

 over at that time is certainly taken ; for as 

 the eyes of fish are placed so as not to see under 

 them, the otter attacks them off their guard 

 from below ; and, seizing them at once by the 

 belly, drags them on shore, where it often 

 leaves them untouched, to continue the pur- 

 suit for hours together. The other method is 

 chiefly practised in lakes and ponds, where 

 there is no current ; the fish thus taken are 

 rather of the smaller kind, for the great ones 

 will never be driven out of deep water. 



In this manner, the otter usually lives du- 

 ring the summer, being furnished with a sup- 

 ply much greater than its consumption ; kil- 

 ling for its amusement, and infecting the edges 

 of the lake with quantities of dead fish, which 

 it leaves there as trophies rather of its victory 

 than its necessities. But in winter, when the 

 lakes are frozen over, and the rivers pour with 

 a rapid torrent, the otter is often greatly dis- 

 tressed for provisions ; and is then obliged to 

 live upon grass, weeds, and even the bark of 

 trees. It then comes upon land, and, grown 

 courageous from necessity, feeds upon terres- 

 trial animals, rats, insects, and even sheep them- 

 selves. Nature, however, has given it the pow- 

 er of continuing a long time without food ; and 

 although, during that season, it is not render- 

 ed quite torpid, like the marmout or the dor- 

 mouse, yet it keeps much more within its re- 

 treat, which is usually the hollow of a bank, 

 worn under by the water. There it often 

 forms a kind of gallery, running for several 

 yards along the edge of the water ; so that 

 when attacked at one end, it flies to the other, 

 and often evades the fowler by plunging into 

 the water at forty or fifty paces distant, while 

 he expects to find it just before him. 



We learn from Mr. Buffon, that this animal, 

 in France, couples in winter, and brings forth 

 in the beginning of spring. But it is certain- 

 ly different with us, for its young are never 

 found till the latter end of summer ; and 1 



3N 



