152 Otters and Otter- Hunting. 



It will be seen that it were impossible, even if it 

 w^ere advisable, to lay down any definite rules for 

 hunting the Otter, or to assert in general terms that 

 one method of hunting is superior to any of several 

 other methods. Among these are two principal 

 systems of hunting. One is that of casting-off 

 hounds up-stream on water that has perhaps not been 

 hunted for a twelvemonth, leaving hounds to pick 

 up a drag if they can, while the Master and his 

 Field walk quietly forward in pleasant converse 

 with one another until an Otter is found, or until a 

 convenient bridge is reached, whereon luncheon is 

 provided, and whence hounds are sent home at the 

 end of a blank day. The other is that in vogue with 

 Masters who have hunted the same streams for a 

 considerable number of years, w^ho remember the 

 places where they have put down their quarry in 

 the past, and push on from one holt to another, 

 with hounds clustered at their heels, now all on one 

 bank, now all on another, regardless of a drag j and 

 when these have tried the last known holt on their 

 day's beat they also score a blank and send hounds 

 home. 



Both these methods — and, indeed, nearly every 

 system of hunting Otters practised nowadays — are 

 very near akin to that somewhat futile proceeding 

 known as " looking for a needle in a bottle of hay." 

 With all due respect for those " Old Masters " who 



