190 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



I 



after in the manufacture of muffs, trimmings, and espe- 

 cially of the tall ornamental fur caps generally worn as 

 part of the winter costume in Canada. The price of the 

 skin varies according to season, good ones bringing from 

 four to six dollars each. 



They are most frequently taken in winter by traps — 

 dead-falls placed over little forest brooks trickling be- 

 tween lakes, and steel-traps submerged at a hand's 

 depth close to the bank, where they come out from 

 under the ice to their paths and '^rubs." These re- 

 sorts are readily detected by the tracks and stains on 

 the snow, and the smooth, shining appearance of the 

 frozen bank where they indulge in their curious amuse- 

 ment of sliding down, after the manner of the pas- 

 time termed in Canada " trebogining." Even in con- 

 finement the animal is full of sport, and gambols 

 like a kitten. The term " otter-rub " is applied to the 

 place where they enter and leave the water, from 

 their habit of rubbing themselves, like a dog, against a 

 stump or root on emerging from the water. The 

 otter is a very wary animal, and I have rarely come 

 upon and shot them unawares, though in cruising up and 

 down runs in a canoe in spring I have often seen their 

 victims, generally a goodly trout, deserted on hearing the 

 dip of our paddles, and still floundering on the ice. Fresh- 

 water fish, including trout, perch, eels and suckers, form 

 their usual food; they will also eat frogs. They have 

 paths through the woods from lake to lake, often ex- 

 tending over a very considerable distance, and the 

 shortest cuts that could be adopted — a regular bee-line. 

 Their track on the snow is most singular. After a yard 

 or two of foot impressions there comes a long, broad trail. 



