To Take the Otter. 39 



To TAKE THE OTTER, OR " WATER 

 WOLFE." 



Very interesting, and evidently from 

 practical knowledge, are Mascall's direc- 

 tions for making otter-traps, or "weles," 

 as he calls them. From the excellent 

 illustrations he gives there would not be 

 much difficulty in constructing one of 

 them; indeed, I hope to get Mr. Barn- 

 bridge, of Windsor, whose capital osier 

 eel-traps I have found most useful on the 

 Itchen, in Hampshire, to make one for 

 me, for the keeper tells me otters have 

 been very busy among the trout and gray- 

 ling. At the present time, as far as I am 

 aware, only steel traps are used for taking 

 otters, and I have often heard keepers 

 complain that it is difficult to get a trap 

 that will hold an otter. Again, these steel 

 traps, like large rat-traps, are dangerous 

 things to use, as ducks, geese, and other 

 domestic birds and animals may be killed 

 by them, or bathers seriously injured. 



But if Mascall's otter " wele " is effective, 

 it would be dangerous only to otters. I 

 wonder if any descendants of those who 

 made them in Mascall's time are living ? 

 He says : " These Otter Weles are made 

 at Twyford, by sides Reading. There be 

 two of the Gootheriches which lives much 



