Otter 



Where fish are reasonably abundant an otter can in this manner 

 easily catch ten times as many as he can eat, and at such 

 times is apt to satisfy himself with just tasting a mouthful from 

 each, preferring the flaky meat just back of the head. Otters 

 are also excellent judges of the different kinds of fish, agreeing 

 with us in choosing trout, salmon and eels from among those 

 that live in the rivers. Like seals, they are affectionate and genial, 

 fond of each other, and, when trained, exhibiting a dog-like 

 devotion to their masters. The old ones take the most solicitous 

 care of the offspring and defend them against all comers; a dog 

 that discovers an otter's den and imprudently attempts to dig it 

 out is more than likely never to return to his master. 



When the young otters are large enough, their mothers 

 take them into the water for their first swimming lesson. It is 

 said that at first they are mortally afraid of the water and have 

 to be carried into it by force. 



I have never had any opportunities of observing them at that 

 age, but as late as September, when the young ones were as 

 big as cats, I have seen one climb on its mother's shoulders, 

 as if tired, and ride there as she swam against the current. 

 They were hardly a dozen yards away, and when she saw 

 me the old one dived, taking the youngster down with her. 

 A few moments later they came up again side by side, with 

 their heads close together, and a very attractive picture they made, 

 bobbing up and down among the pickerel weed, watching me 

 intently; from time to time the old one would lift her head 

 nearly a foot out of the water, as if to see me more distinctly. 



Presently the young one climbed on her shoulders again, 

 whereupon she dived, and the next that I saw of them they 

 were playing about in the shadow of an old bridge twenty rods 

 further up stream. 



The otter's home is a den beneath the bank, usually with 

 the entrance under water for safety. This is evidently not re- 

 garded as absolutely essential, however, for otters have been 

 known to have their nests in caves, high up in the banks and 

 at the bottom of hollow trees. 



Last summer 1 found the home of a family of otters beside 

 a little muddy brook that is nowhere more than a few inches 

 deep. Their main entrance appeared to be through a hollow 

 \>g, the other end of which was buried in the swamp beneath 



