THE OTTER. 117 



Ireland many otters have the sea-caves as their 

 habitat, these beasts often being of immense size, 

 and capable of uttering many weird noises of their 

 own. They are merely old river-otters, which, 

 having outlived the restlessness of their youth with 

 its many perils, have taken to a more leisurely life 

 amidst their ocean fastnesses. ' Land-otters,' pass- 

 ing visitors, no doubt, occupy the same caves, and 

 many otters born by the sea seldom or never leave 

 it, and, thanks to an abundance of food, grow to a 

 great size. This, to my mind, explains the theory 

 of the big sea-otter. He is either an old otter 

 who has taken up permanent residence in the sea- 

 caves, or an otter that has grown to a great size 

 owing to abundant sea-food; and all spring from 

 the same stock. 



Much sport can be had hunting these sea-otters 

 with dogs and shooting them with rifles as they 

 ' emerge from the caves, their skins being valuable, 

 while they are certainly of no value to man in such 

 secure retreats, where they are never seen, and do 

 nothing to pay for the amount of fish they destroy. 

 It is best to obtain a good seaworthy boat, and 

 not to land, leaving the dogs to work the shore 

 while one waits with the rifles just beyond the 

 surf. A calm day and low tide are necessary ; 

 otherwise there is a great danger of striking a 

 submerged boulder, and a greater difficulty in 

 shooting. If the otters once see the men they 

 will not bolt from the caves, remaining and fight- 

 ing off the dogs ; but they are far more ready to 

 bolt from a white dog than from one that is dark 

 in colour. Incidentally one gets any amount of 

 other shooting thrown in ; and if a rifle is used for 

 the otters, a shot-gun also should be earned, as 

 often whole flocks of rock-doves emerge from the 



