318 



V h) It T KB RATA. 



tin upper :in>l under Burface; it has also less extent of the pale color beneath the throat, as com- 

 pare,! with the L. vulgaris; and there is some difference in the cars, and in the proportions of 

 other parts. Other naturalists regard this only as a variety. The kind spotted with white, is 

 called "King of the < ftters" by the ignorant Scotch, who hold that it bears a sort of charmed life, 

 in so far that its death ia never unaccompanied by the death of a man or some other living crea- 

 ture. The akin is considered precious as an antidote against infection, wounds, and the dangers 

 of the sea. One of these spotted otters is at the Museum at Paris, near which place it was found. 

 Mr. Macgillivray says that be has heard of white otters, but had never seen an albino. 



In the "lder annals of sporting iii England, otter-hunting holds no inconsiderable place. Som- 

 erville describes it at some Length, and with much unction. It is now fast dying away, but is still 

 kept u{ > in some parts of Wales and Scotland. 



The N wk-N.uk, L. X"//\ has the fur deep-chestnut, lightest on the sides; the lower part of the 

 neck and cheeks, as well as the throat, bright reddish-brown; above the eye a ruddy yellow or 

 yellowish-white Bpot It is the Nir-nayie of the people of Pondicherry, the Water-cat or J /< h I 

 jur of the Maiiiattas. and is probably the species seen by Bishop Heber, who passed a row 

 of nine or ten large and very beautiful otters, tethered with straw collars and long strings to bara- 

 boo -take- on the hanks of the Matta Colly. "Some," he says, "were swimming about at the full 

 extent of their strings, or lying half in and half out of the water; others were rolling themselves 

 in the sun on the sandy bank, uttering a shrill whistling noise, as if in play. I was told that 



THE OTTEE. 



most of the fishermen in this neighborhood kept one or more of these animals, who were almost 

 as tame ;i- dogs, and of great use in fishing; sometimes driving the shoals into the nets, some- 

 times bringing ou1 the larger fish with their teeth." This is another proof, if any were wanting, 

 ot the feasibility of taming these animals and rendering them useful to man. The nair-nair is a 

 native of the Bast Indies. 



The America* < Kttkb, or Canada Otter, L. Canadensis, is the Loutre de Canada of Buffon; 

 Lutra Brattiieruis of Il.-ul.-m; Neekeek of the Cree Indians; and Capucca of the inhabitants of 

 Nootka. This animal, peculiar to America, has the fur above and below -shining brown, and 

 much resembling that of the beaver. The size is much larger than that of the European 

 otter, measuring from the nose to the tip of the tail, which is eighteen inches, five feet. In 



