14 Otters and Otter-Hunting. 



order to lay down their litters, and that when the 

 cubs have grown to three or four pounds in weight 

 they are taken down to larger water by easy stages. 

 That the cubs remain with the mother in her wan- 

 derings for some considerable time is, I think, 

 evidenced by the fact that they are " put down " 

 and killed when with the bitch, up to a weight of 

 nine or ten pounds, or even more, when they can 

 hardly be much less than a twelvemonth old. So 

 far as this evidence goes, it would seem to point 

 to the Otter breeding only once in the year. 



The dog Otter seems to lead a more solitary, as 

 he does a more vagrant, life than the bitch Otter. 

 When the latter has young cubs it is seldom that 

 a dog Otter is found in very close proximity, though 

 one may be put down a few miles up or down the 

 same stream. Even with cubless bitches it is a 

 common thing to spur the dog going up-stream 

 while the bitch has gone down, and vice versa ; 

 and in some cases the " visiting " Otter has crossed 

 over during the night to a neighbouring river, or 

 travelled up a tributary towards another watershed. 

 Young cubs of anything from eight to twelve 

 pounds would seem to hang together after their 

 mother has gone off to lay down another litter, 

 judging from the frequent occasions when two and 

 even three such have been found and put down by 

 hounds. To find cubs of different litters from the 



