JULY. 







OTTER HUNTING. 



BY AUBYN TREVOR- BATTYE. 



OTTER hunting is sometimes decried by hunting men by men, 

 that is to say, who only hunt to ride but never, I think, by genuine 

 sportsmen. So far as the science of hunting goes, the pursuit of 

 the Otter demands at least as much knowledge, skill, and experience 

 as the pursuit of the fox. Perhaps, indeed, even more, because of 

 the element in which the Otter moves. It is much as if you were 

 to hunt a fish with hounds ; and so I really think there is more 

 craft required, more inference from indications of the smallest, and 

 from general knowledge of the creature's ways. 



The Otter is a thing of mystery. It is so greatly nocturnal, it 

 moves so quietly, it shows itself so little, that it may and often does 

 haunt a spot for years without betraying its presence to any but the 

 most practised eye. It will sleep day after day in a faggot stack, 

 in the thatch of a building, under the barn floor, in many another 

 place of this kind, and never be found out. And Otters are great 

 travellers. They will travel miles in a single night, sometimes 

 crossing right over intervening country, hill or valley, it matters 

 not, on their way from stream to stream. If an old dog Otter has 

 been seriously disturbed by hounds, he will generally start away 

 that very night down stream, going on and on, often without pause, 



