THE OTTER AND HIS WAYS. 31 1 



The scratch lot, under the tutelage of Racer, soon learned their 

 lesson; and Russell in a couple of seasons 'scored five-and- 

 thirty otters right off the reel.' 



The scent, in truth, does not appear a natural one to 

 hounds or terriers ; and hence the difficulty in getting them to 

 take to it. In the North of England it is a common practice 

 to enter puppies on foumart first, and after killing a few of 

 those skunk-like vermin, they take. readily to the scent of an 

 otter. Yet, to the human nose, no two animals can differ more 

 in their natural odour ; the skin of the one yielding an effluvium 

 almost imperceptible and by no means disagreeable ; whereas 

 that of the other is so foetid, so noisome, that I have seen 

 hounds sneeze violently and turn away in disgust when killing 

 it. But neither the rough hounds used in the north, nor the 

 wire-haired Welsh hound evince such unreadiness to enter as 

 their congener the foxhound, of which race it is no figure of 

 speech to say that not one in ten ever fancies the scent. But, 

 find one that really takes to it kindly, and that hound is price- 

 less. His high-mettled courage carries him gallantly to the 

 front on the longest and coldest day ; and while the rough 

 hound, good as he may be, stands shivering on the bank, over- 

 weighted by water and chilled to the marrow, the endurance of 

 the foxhound becomes conspicuous. He goes on marking — the 

 most valuable quality an otter hound can possess — and when 

 he speaks, it is a guinea to a shilling the otter is there. Not so 

 with the rough hound ; for, when at all beaten, he is very apt 

 to throw his tongue too freely, dwelling on old scent, and so 

 attracting the pack to hovers in which the otter is no longer to 

 be found. 



Still, as a trail hound, give me a big blue-mottled harrier, 

 or a wire-haired hound for that purpose ; he is not so prone to 

 hit and flash ahead as the other, but is more poky in searching 

 for his game, and consequently does not draw over it half so 

 often as the dashing foxhound. So, to my mind, a thoroughly 

 efficient pack of otter hounds should consist of a mixed lot, 

 but chiefly of foxhounds, with two or three rough or big harriers 



