Sagacity of Otter 323 



clumsy progress of a heavy animal, who is not in his element 

 on terra firma. In galloping, the feet are planted in a series 

 of rough fours, each print very distinct from the rest, the 

 hind ones a little in advance of the fore, with their toes well 

 turned out. One day, when most of the river was covered 

 with ice, I followed a double track from the lake, for three 

 or four miles up the Lliw, and in the whole of that distance 

 the animals had not once touched land. No fishing had 

 been done en route ; but one Otter had systematically followed 

 the other all the way, swimming where open water allowed, 

 sometimes diving beneath bridges of ice, and only crossing 

 it when the frozen state of the pools left no alternative 

 course. The centre of the stream had been kept, as nearly 

 as possible, in this way, throughout the journey ; and from 

 the extreme care taken in avoiding the land, I could not but 

 think that the object of the travellers had been to leave 

 behind them no clue to the road they had taken. They 

 probably could not understand that the snow would tell a 

 tale ; and had the same care been exercised in its absence, 

 it was easy to see how hounds might have drawn up the 

 stream, an hour or so later, without hitting upon a single 

 touch of scent. Not improbably it may be by precautions 

 such as these that Otters sometimes travel home, when 

 making for a holt up some small river ; and the same reason 

 may explain a find sometimes taking place quite unexpectedly, 

 when hounds have drawn several miles perhaps, without 

 signs of a drag ; or, where the main river has been left for 

 some tributary brook, for the sudden and inexplicable end- 

 ing of a drag which often so greatly puzzles huntsmen and 

 their fields. 



In Cymric, the Otter is generally called Dyfrgi^ or Dwrgi ; 

 amongst the mountains round Llanuwchllyn I have heard 

 it spoken of as Dim-y-dwr y or simply " water dog." It is 

 frequently accused of taking the tame ducks, which often 

 remain on the water all night, and I had at least one ocular 

 demonstration that the charge was well founded. On more 

 than one occasion, Water Hens were found to have been 

 eaten by them, and at the remains of one of these a young 

 Otter was trapped. The latter was a very small one, weigh- 



