THE CAPE OR CLAWLESS OTTER 



and tail are seen, and on these occasions it has been 

 mistaken for a large snake. However, as a general 

 rule, the nose and head only are visible above water. 

 On the slightest cause for alarm it sinks without 

 a sound, emerging 'at some distance for a moment 

 to breathe, and again sinks from sight. If the banks 

 of the stream are covered with reeds or rushes, the 

 otter, when alarmed in midstream, disappears, and 

 makes straight for the bank, where it emerges and 

 lies concealed from view. 



It was quite a common sight to see a family party 

 of otters swimming about in midstream on moon- 

 light nights in the rivers in Natal. It is necessary 

 to secrete oneself and remain perfectly still, for 

 should a twig crack, or the slightest movement be 

 made, the otters instantly sink, and are not seen 

 again that night. 



In Natal Clawless Otters are common, not only 

 along the banks of the larger rivers, but even the 

 small spruits. A family of otters lived amongst 

 the reeds and rushes in the Dorp Spruit at the lower 

 end of an estate of mine at Pietermaritzburg. Most 

 of the tenants, who were natives, kept fowls. 

 Almost nightly one or more fowls were carried off. 

 The tenants occasionally caught glimpses of an 

 animal vanishing in the darkness, and thought it 

 to be a dog. One moonlight night the fowls of a 

 tenant set up a great din, and the owner, rushing 

 out of his house, saw two animals disappear in the 

 darkness. It had been raining during the night, 



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