1 6 Otters and Otter-Hunting. 



what are locally termed '' sod drains," much fre- 

 quented by Otters, which correspond in every detail 

 with the ''home" discovered" in Soay. It has 

 been found quite feasible in suitable localities to 

 construct artificial drains which Otters will frequent ; 

 a fact of which the owner of Pamflete, in Devon, 

 formerly made valuable use. 



Otters will frequently in summer " lie rough " 

 at long distances from the water, under stacks of 

 faggots, in brushwood and undergrowth, and even 

 in thick hedgerows. They will also, of course, lie 

 among reed-beds, and in osier beds, and withy 

 plantations by the side of ponds and rivers, and I 

 have on two occasions found them curled up in the 

 sun close to the bank, from which they could slip 

 into the water quietly at the faintest hint of danger 

 or disturbance. They have been found, but rarely, 

 in drains running under inhabited houses, and 

 also on dry beds under the planking of a boat- 

 house on some ornamental water. I have heard of 

 an instance in which a fox, a badger, and an Otter 

 were bolted by terriers from the same den, one 

 after the other; but should conceive the associa- 

 tion to be probably unique. 



The food of the Otter is of great interest to those 

 who are asked to preserve him from an untimely 

 death by gunshot, trap and net. It is a point upon 

 which, from time immemorial, he has been cruelly 



