326 Practical Game Preserving. 



or laid bare in the course of time, along the banks of 

 the river. But the chief and most favoured spots, and 

 also those offering the best means for escape and security, 

 are situated in and about old weirs, or even weirs still 

 in use. Such dams to the water, more particularly those 

 formed of large and massive roughly-shaped stones, piled 

 up as the support for the wall, or the more regularly 

 formed part of the weir, often abound in nooks, holes, and 

 crevices forming otter lairs par excellence, and their con- 

 tinual adoption for the purpose shows the esteem in which 

 they are held in the otter mind. 



Lutra but rarely burrows, indeed, scarcely ever ; but, when 

 such is the case, the work is generally performed with 

 difficulty, and probably also with reluctance, the place chosen 

 being almost always some part of the bank formed of sandy 

 deposit of the river where the stream used to flow. The 

 excavations are never considerable, and mostly consist 

 of a passage into a rather larger tunnel of short extent, 

 whence are one or more passages out, occasionally close 

 to or even below the level of the water. The actual nest 

 in which the young are brought forth is usually formed 

 in a roomy and dry hollow lined with dead rushes, dry 

 flags, and similar plants, which grow along the river- 

 side, together with dry coarse grass and bracken. Its 

 position is generally close to the water, which serves as 

 a refuge for dam and offspring in case of danger, when 

 they plunge into the stream and endeavour, unobserved, 

 to attain cover along the banks of the river. The 

 young are brought forth between the middle of March 

 and the middle of May, only a single litter occurring 



