THE OTTER. 131 



event, the she-kits remain in the neighbourhood 

 for at least a year, and probably produce their own 

 first litter quite near to where they themselves 

 were born. The only evidence I have in support 

 of this theory, which I believe to be correct, is 

 that the otter referred to as hunting in the wood 

 during the extreme cold snap was a young she- 

 otter who, presumably, was one of the litter born 

 the previous spring somewhere among the loose 

 rocks at the river-side bordering her home. The 

 rest of the family had wandered off; she alone 

 remained ; and this supposition that the she-kits 

 remain resident in the locality of their birth may 

 account for the apparently resident but unmated 

 otters occasionally met with on certain stretches 

 of water. 



At all events, the theory is interesting, and, if 

 true, there must be a very definite reason under- 

 lying it. Nature's motives may be obscure, but 

 behind each and every one of her peculiarities there 

 is a purpose. Even distribution of the species may 

 be at the root of the reluctance of the young 

 females to leave the region of their nursery-days. 

 If they departed with the rest, it is quite conceiv- 

 able that when the next mating season came the 

 ambitious young gentry of the species, journeying 

 upstream on their voyages of discovery, would 

 find the head-waters of this river and the next 

 untenanted by the female element, with the result 

 that they themselves would spend the season 

 unmated, and that certain stretches of river, in 

 every way suitable for nursery purposes, would 

 add nothing to the multiplication of the species. 

 In other words, if the she-kits remain, the distribu- 

 tion of the species is maintained within its original 

 bounds, and the young she-otter, who may lack 



