The Science of Hunting the Otter. 167 



notice of spraints, which hold for the human nose 

 the only distinctive smell pertaining to the Otter — 

 that of pleasantly-scented snuff; while they will 

 often not speak when running over a sandy or 

 muddy spit deeply impressed with recent seals, but 

 will open out directly they get among the herbage 

 and undergrowth. 



I have been led to the fringe of that vast subject, 

 the mystery of scent, upon which I do not propose 

 to say more than that it is possibly less a mystery in 

 Otter-hunting than in fox- or hare-hunting. There 

 are of course good and bad scenting days, and days 

 when the water seems to carry no scent at all, so 

 that hounds are unable to swim their Otter a yard, 

 and get no assistance from the '' ream " or '' wash." 

 If an Otter takes to the land, however, even on days 

 when the drag has been poor and the " wash " 

 altogether absent, hounds usually get a screaming 

 red-hot scent. I have also noticed that when an 

 Otter, after running a mile or two before hounds in 

 covert, regains the water, he seems to have literally 

 run himself out of scent and hounds can make 

 nothing further of him, and very likely have to leave 

 him when a kill had seemed certain. Bitch Otters, 

 like hares in kindle, under similar conditions and 

 when suckling cubs, are usually bad-scented, which 

 affords a confirmatory hint to the observant huntsman 

 who wants to save his bitches and cubs. There can 



