THE OTTER. 113 



runways across the watersheds, and such knowledge 

 is carefully guarded, to be handed from father to 

 son or grandson, or whoever may succeed to the 

 trapping-range ; for an otter runway is a source 

 of unlimited supply, capable of yielding a definite 

 number of pelts each year. 



The same applies to the otter landing-places. 

 They have certain recognised landing - stations, 

 probably flat boulders or shelving plateaux of 

 sand, which they frequent while fishing, making 

 use of no other. Having located one of these 

 landing-places, one can easily keep count of the 

 otters that pass, and if it be a sand-bank, it is 

 worth while washing out old prints in order to 

 keep trace of the new. A flat boulder of rock 

 at the head of a pool at a point at which the river 

 narrows and becomes too rapid for the animals to 

 negotiate is often chosen, and here the remains of 

 large trout that the otters have taken out of the 

 water are often to be found. I remember one 

 such landing-place on the river Wharfe which 

 told many a woeful story to passing anglers, and 

 which, incidentally, did the otters no great good 

 in that locality. 



UNDERGROUND HABITS. 



Lead -mining was once a flourishing industry 

 among the hills of the West Riding, and many 

 great mines existed in the heart of the lonely 

 moorland districts. The discovery of surface-lead 

 in Italy was, I believe, the chief factor that caused 

 their abandonment, and the great majority were shut 

 down within a year. Veritable hives of industry 

 some of these workings were, situated in desolate 

 and wind-swept regions ; now for forty years or 

 more they have been left to crumble into waste. 



W.A. h 



