THE OTTER AND HIS WAYS. 291 



horn and studied his ways from youth to old age, are prone to 

 confess that much pertaining to the beast is beyond their ken 

 and utterly inscrutable. 



Still, such men by patient and watchful observation have 

 learned enough to enable them not only to find and hunt the 

 animal successfully, but to enjoy themselves and show their 

 friends a sport the wildness and delight of which no pen of 

 mine can describe. 



The otter has no local attachment, like the badger, the fox, 

 or the hare ; but, as an experienced otter hunter once told me, 

 he ' believed that, except in the case of a female and her young 

 ones, an otter never occupied the same bed two days following,' 

 meaning that he is always on the tramp, seeking fresh pools 

 and new streams from night to night. However true this may 

 be, it is nevertheless a fact that on quitting one lodging for 

 another, like old travellers, they have ahvays a house of call 

 in their eye — a safe well-known retreat — on which they are 

 bent for rest and security at the far end of their night's 

 work. 



An otter, w^hen bolted from his sleeping quarters, will make 

 at once for the nearest stronghold, and so on from one to 

 another, till he has shown his observant pursuers all the drains 

 and holts he is wont to frequent on that river. Consequently, 

 when a fresh trail is struck on a stream well known to the 

 hunter, he can generally tell where his hounds should come to 

 a mark and where, when, found, the otter will go for his next 

 retreat. This knowledge is of the utmost advantage, as it saves 

 much time and labour both in finding and pursuing the animal ; 

 whereas, on the other hand, if the river drawn be a new and 

 unknown one, the uncertainty of a find and a kill is greatly 

 increased. There may be a hot steaming drag, indicating the 

 recent presence of the wild beast beyond a doubt, but the 

 mouth of his haunt may be a foot or two under water, and if 

 so, hounds and terriers will pass unwittingly over it, and the 

 otter will sleep on undiscovered in his dry and cavernous holt. 

 Scores of otters escape detection in this way. 



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