Badgers and Otters 319 



relied upon ! It is only necessary, for the benefit of very 

 youthful readers, to say that none of these beliefs have the 

 slightest foundation in fact, the limbs of a Badger being no 

 more misshapen than those of any other wild animal. 



The district is hunted by the Borth Otter Hounds, or, as 

 the pack is now called, "The Border Counties," Otters 

 being quite as numerous here as in most places. There 

 was a brood at the head of the lake each year I was at 

 Llanuwchllyn, and in one season two ; while others were 

 probably reared on the mountains, one nest being discovered 

 by the keeper, amongst a bed of rushes, on the bog on Ffridd 

 Helyg-y-Moch. This nest was a large domed chamber, on 

 the surface of the ground, but excavated into the dry roots 

 of a big bunch of rushes : quite a mass of grass, and other 

 herbage, having been gathered together for its construction, 

 till the whole resembled a small hay-cock. It is not usual 

 for Otters to make use of such open nurseries, underground 

 couches being generally preferred for the young ; but I have 

 known parallel cases, in similar situations, and they are, 

 probably, of not infrequent occurrence here. At the head 

 of the stream which flows westward from the Ddwallt, near 

 Rallt-llwyd, there was a litter in 1904, in a very shallow 

 excavation in the peat, from which both old and young were 

 easily dislodged by a man breaking in the roof of the chamber 

 with his foot. The whole family, I was informed, made 

 good their escape in the narrow ditches intersecting the bog, 

 which, though mostly containing only shallow water, have 

 very soft, peaty bottoms, and are much overgrown with 

 weeds. At the falls on the Lliw there is a stronghold which 

 is seldom untenanted ; and as I have seen hounds draw up to 

 within a mile of the place without indication of a trail, though 

 there was good reason for knowing that there was an Otter 

 so close above them (they do not draw higher up the river), 

 it would appear that the animals must, at times, prudently 

 confine their excursions to the upper part of the stream, and 

 so escape undesirable attention, or else that they may some- 

 times leave no trail behind them, as suggested below. Up 

 here they can experience no dearth of summer fare, for, in 

 addition to trout and eels, many of the water holes abound 



