42 Otters and Otter-Hunting. 



employment of the English fox-terrier with most 

 packs of Otter-hounds ; but not the leggy, snipy 

 terrier of the show-bench. A fox-terrier much over 

 151b. in weight is useless for Otter-hunting; he 

 could never negotiate the drains and holts in which 

 an Otter can take refuge: The old style of " Jack 

 Russell " fox-terrier was probably the best of his 

 race for this and other sporting purposes ; but he 

 has become very rare of late years. All fox-terriers 

 are excitable creatures, and a brace of terriers 

 straining at a lead in the kennel-boy's hands and 

 whining whenever hounds speak or they get near 

 the water is an unspeakable nuisance, getting hounds' 

 heads up and annoying everybody throughout the 

 day. 



The disadvantage of employing red, or black, or 

 grizzled terriers is, of course, that, being so like an 

 Otter in colour, hounds in a worry are apt to mistake 

 them for the quarry and kill them before they can 

 be saved. Even white fox-terriers when covered 

 with mud and blood are apt to meet with this 

 untimely end. Between fighting the Otter under- 

 ground and being mistaken for him when they 

 emerge, I am afraid the mortality among terriers 

 used for Otter-hunting is rather alarming. 



Personally, I believe in the Highland terrier — not 

 the useless show-bench Scottish or Aberdeen terrier, 

 but the original stock from which both Skye and 



