The Science of Hunting the Otter. 165 



little attention to the stories of keepers and others as 

 to the prevalence or scarcity of Otters. Few of 

 them know an Otter when they see it, and habitually 

 regard moorhens, water-voles, and in fact anything 

 that swims across a stream at dusk, such as a stoat 

 or a rabbit, as an Otter. Black cats that go poach- 

 ing among reed beds after young birds are fre- 

 quently reported as " big Otters." It is sometimes 

 an advantage to take on these expeditions a terrier 

 that can really be trusted or an old favourite hound 

 that has left the kennels and lives pensioned in 

 the Master's yard. Either of these will tell him 

 when Otters have been about before he will have 

 found any spraints or seal, and they will often be 

 the means of introducing him to a new holt. During 

 the winter, when snow is lying on the ground, he will 

 have a great opportunity of estimating how many 

 Otters his rivers contain, and there can be no 

 pleasanter occupation on a bright winter day, after a 

 fall of snow sufficient to stop both hunting and 

 curling, than to set himself the task of tracing the 

 nocturnal wanderings of his summer foes by follow- 

 ing their footsteps. When the thaw comes he can 

 do good work by noting by means of the narrow, 

 unmelted strip that runs across the meadow, where 

 some forgotten drain is concealed, with entrance 

 perhaps beneath low-water level. Here, when 

 hounds are next at fault, he will know where to dig 



