332 Practical Game Preserving. 



may be provided with one or more traps. Care nust be 

 taken, however, not to unnecessarily expose a lot of loose 

 gins, which are always very tempting to anyone rinding 

 them, whilst any chance of their being washed into the river 

 must be guarded against. 



The taking of otters alive and uninjured is a very difficult 

 matter, on account of the wariness of the animal, which 

 necessitates rather extensive auxiliaries to the trap. How- 

 ever, when the stream is narrow and of not too swift 

 a current, the attempt can be made, and as the work 

 necessarily will last some years, its first cost is really not 

 so large as it might seem. The first thing to be done is 

 to put a wire fence (that is, one of wire netting) across 

 the stream from bank to bank, and reaching to the bottom. 

 It must be a foot or so above the highest level which the 

 water reaches. Then make a common pitfall at one end 

 ^of the wire fence. Now comes the costly part of these 

 arrangements, for a high w r attled fence must be constructed, 

 .running about fifty yards out on each side of the wire one. 

 Wattle hurdles may be employed for this purpose, if they 

 be carefully fixed. But if such a fortunate thing exist as 

 two stone walls similarly positioned, and quite fit to supply 

 the place of the wattled fence, advantage may be taken 

 of these or any other fence with steep sides, and the wire 

 fitted to the stream, be it narrow or otherwise. The wire 

 will require all the grass, and such like obstructions which 

 will come floating down the river, removed from it about 

 once every ten days or so, otherwise the fence would offer 

 too much resistance to the water and be borne away. It 

 is said that by employing a box trap in the middle of the 



