CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA. 317 



it to make the swiftest turns, nay, almost bounds in the water, according as the rapidity of its 

 agile prey demands a sudden downward dive, an upward spring, or a side snap. The short 

 fur, which is close and fine, keeps the body at a proper temperature, and the longer and outer 

 hairs directed backwards, enable it to glide through the water, when propelled horizontally 

 bv its webbed feet beneath the surface, noiselessly and speedily. Easy and elegant in its motions, 

 there are few objects more attractive in menageries than the pond, especially if it be kept clean 

 and supplied with clear water, wherein the otter is seen to hunt its living prey. When it has 

 seized a small fish, it instantly leaves the water and devours it, beginning with the head, while 

 the body is held between the fore-paws Larger fish are held down by the paws, and the head 

 and tail are often left uneaten. The havoc made by these animals in the rivers and ponds is 

 great; for they will go on killing, and eat but a small portion of each fish, if it be large, when 

 they find plenty of prey. When fish is scarce, and it is pressed by hunger, the otter has been 

 known to resort far inland, to the neighborhood of the farm-yard, and attack lambs, sucking-pigs, 

 poultry, and young domestic animals; the stomach of one, killed in June, has also been found, 

 filled with a curious collection of larvae and earth-worms. The period of gestation is said to be 

 nine weeks, and the number of young produced varies from three to five. The otter's places of 

 refuge near rivers and lakes are beneath the roots of trees or in holes. 



This animal is found generally throughout Europe. Though chiefly living amid rivers, lakes 

 and ponds, it is not confined to the fresh waters. They are known to frequent the sea in the 

 north of Scotland, and to hunt far out in the water. In the south of England — Cornwall — the 

 otter will go a mile from the shore, in the summer and good weather, after its prey. On the sea- 

 shore, rocky caves with scattered blocks, hollows, and cavities under large stones, are its haunts. 



The otter is capable of domestication and attachment. Goldsmith mentions one which went 

 into a gentleman's pond at the word of command, drove the fish up into a corner, and having 

 seized on the largest, brought it out of the water to its master. Daniel, Bewick, Shaw, Bell, and 

 Macgillivray furnish corroborating facts. The latter has collected the following anecdotes: "Mr. 

 M'Diarmid, in his amusing 'Sketches from Nature,' gives an account of several domesticated 

 otters, one of which, belonging to a poor widow, when led forth plunged into the Uur, or the 

 neighboring burns, and brought out all the fish it could find. Another, kept at Corsbie House, 

 Wigtonshire, evinced a great fondness for gooseberries, fondled about her keeper's feet like a pup 

 or kitten, and even seemed inclined to salute her cheek, when permitted to carry her freedoms 

 so far. A third, belonging to Mr. Monteith, of Carstairs, was also very tame, and though he fre- 

 quently stole away at night to fish by the pale light of the moon, and associate with his kindred 

 by the river side, his master, of course, was too generous to find any fault with his peculiar mode 

 of spending his evening hours. In the morning he was always at his post in the kennel, and no 

 animal understood better the secret of keeping his own side of the house. Indeed, his pugnacity 

 in this respect gave him a great lift in the favor of the game-keeper, who talked of his feats wher- 

 ever he went, and avowed, besides, that if the best cur that ever ran 'only dared to grin' at his 

 protege he would soon ':nak his teeth meet through him.' To mankind, however, he was much 

 more civil, and allowed himself to be gently lifted by the tail, though he objected to any inter- 

 ference with his snout, which is probably with him the seat of honor." They are, however, dan- 

 gerous pets; for, if offended, they will bite grievously. 



As an article of food, the flesh being fishy, the otter was not forbidden by the Roman Catho- 

 lics. Their church permitted it to be eaten on maigre days, and Pennant saw one in the kitchen 

 of the Carthusians, near Dijon, under preparation for the dinner of the religious of that rigid 

 ■'nler, who, by their rules, are prohibited during their whole lives, from eating flesh. Mr. Mac- 

 gillivray states that he knew a man in the island of Harris who procured a considerable number 

 even- year, when the skins were more in request than now, and who generally cooked the flesh, 

 1 't which Mr. Macgillivray once partook with the family. It was "dark-colored, rank, sapid 

 enough, but not agreeably so;" and under the skin was a layer of fat, as in the seals, which might, 

 lie adds, "render it pleasant food to a Greenlander or starving Hebridian." 



The Irish Otter has been elevated to the rank of a species by Mr. Ogilby, under the name of 

 "L. Boensis, on account of the intensity of its coloring, which approaches nearly to black both on 



