202 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



plunging again as do Seals and Porpoises. When in a state of quietude, they are much of the time 

 on their backs. They are frequently seen in this posture, with the hind flippers extended, as if catch- 

 ing the breeze to sail or drift before it. They live on Clams, as well as Crabs and other species of 

 Crustacea ; sometimes small fish. When the Otter descends and brings up any article of food, 

 it instantly resumes its habitual attitude on the back to devour it. On sunny days, when looking, 

 it sometimes shades its eyes with one fore paw, much in the same manner as a person does with the 

 hand."" This curious habit, as we have seen, is adopted also by the Glutton. The supine position 

 is so habitual that the females actually sleep in the water on their backs, with the young ones clasped 

 between their fore paws. While in this position, too, the Otter will toss a piece of sea-weed back- 

 wards and forwards from paw to paw, like a ball, and the mother play with her offspring for hours 

 together. 



The fur is very valuable, and the animal is consequently hunted regularly; so regularly, that 

 there is every possibility of the species becoming speedily extinct unless some check is put upon the 

 chase. For taking some action in the matter, there is the further reason that the natives of the 



Aleutian Isles, the chief resort of the 

 animal, are dependent on its hunting 

 for their subsistence, and it has been 

 shown that the people have diminished 

 in numbers coincidently with the 

 Otters. 



" There are four principal methods 

 of capturing the Sea Otter, namely, by 

 surf-shooting, by spearing -surrounds, by 

 clubbing, and by nets. 



" The surf-shooting is the common 

 method, but has only been in vogue 

 among the natives a short time. The 

 young men have nearly all been sup- 

 plied with rifles, with which they patrol 

 the shores of the island and inlets, and 

 whenever a Sea Otter's head is seen in 



the surf, a thousand yards out even, they fire, the great distance and the noise of the surf preventing 

 the Sea Otter from taking alarm until it is hit ; and in nine times out of ten, when it is hit in the 

 head, which is all that is exposed, the shot is fatal, and the hunter waits until the surf brings his 

 quarry in, if it is too rough for him to venture out in his ' bidarkie.' This shooting is kept up now 

 the whole year round. 



" The spearing-surround is the orthodox native system of capture, and reflects the highest credit 

 upon them as bold, hardy watermen. A party of fifteen or twenty bidarkies with two men in each, as 

 a rule, all under the control of a chief elected by common consent, start out in pleasant weather, or 

 when it is not too roxigh, and spread themselves over a long line, slowly paddling over the waters 

 where the Sea Otters are most usually found. When any one of them discovers an Otter asleep, mo.it 

 likely, in the water, he makes a quiet signal, and there is not a word spoken or a paddle splashed 

 while they are on the hunt. He darts towards the animal, but generally the alarm is taken by the 

 sensitive object, which instantly dives before the Aleut can get near enough to throw his spear. The 

 hunter, however, keeps right on, and stops his canoe directly over the spot where the Otter disappeared. 

 The others, taking note of the position, all deploy and scatter in a circle of half a mile wide round the 

 point of departure thus made, and patiently wait for the re-appearance of the Otter, which must 

 take place within fifteen or thirty minutes, for breath ; and as soon as this happens the nearest one to 

 it darts forward in the same manner as his predecessor, when all hands shout and throw their speai-s, 

 to make the animal dive again as quickly as possible, thus giving it scarcely an instant to 

 recover itself. A sentry is placed on its second diving- wake as before, and the circle is drawn anew ; 



FEMALE SEA OTTEK SWIMMING OX HER BACK WITH YOVNG IN 



HER ARMS. (After Steller.) 



Capt. C. M. Scammon, "American Naturalist," VoL IV., 1870. 



