IN THE FAR WEST. 389 



I have routed it out sometimes with terriers, uiid sometimes 

 by pouring water into its burrow, but as a game or a fur 

 animal I eould not see much in it to make its pursuit pleasant ; 

 though it may be profitable to trap, as its fur is in aetive 

 demand for making the cheaper class of goods. It is usually 

 caught with a No. 3 trap. This animal roams to a high 

 altitude on the mountains, often to a height of seven or eight 

 thousand feet, but its favourite habitat is the treeless plains, 

 where ground-squirrels are abundant. 



The land otter is increasing in numbers in some of the 

 regions bordering the Pacific Ocean, owing to the cessation 

 there of trapping, at least to any extent ; but it is rapidly 

 decreasing in other sections of the country, especially where 

 the fur companies have depots. The system of capturing it 

 varies in different quarters, but, as a rule, the idea is to conceal 

 a steel trap in or near the water in places which it is known 

 to frequent, and these are readily detected by the slides which 

 it makes down an embankment to a stream or a lake. 



The American otter differs from the European in a few 

 minor details. It is larger, has a shorter tail, and the fur of 

 the abdomen is as glossy as that of the back. The fur is very 

 fine, and somewhat waved, and in summer it is short and 

 nearly black, but in winter it turns to a handsome reddish- 

 brown. It resembles that of the beaver in character, but 

 seems shorter. The length of an adult is about five feet, and 

 the tail about eight inches. It is seldom seen during the day, 

 yet I have had a shot at one early in the morning and towards 

 sunset. Shooting it is of little use, however, for, unless it is 

 on land, the probability is that it will sink in the water and 

 be lost. Trapping it is, therefore, the only reliable method 

 of capturing it, to make its skin useful in commerce. 

 This animal has one litter of young in a year, and they are 

 brought forth in a burrow close to the water, about the month 

 of April. Were it hunted with otter hounds it would aii'ord 

 capital sport, as it is almost as common as the beaver in many 

 places. 



The connecting link between the preceding animal and the 

 seal family seems to be the sea otter (Ea/tyJfa nitu'iii<i] } whose 



