132 THE OTTER. 



sound judgment of her own, is at any rate backed 

 by the experience of her parents as regards a 

 suitable locality for her first home. There the 

 knight-errant finds her ; there, or somewhere near, 

 little otters are again brought into the world ; and 

 in this way the otter population is maintained 

 more or less in accordance with the food-producing 

 properties of the chosen waters. 



Other questions revolve around this point. 

 Does every adult otter visit the sea once a year 

 in order to obtain a change of scenery and diet ? 

 There is no particular reason why we should 

 believe it does, whereas there are certain facts 

 which seem to point in the opposite direction. 

 In the British Isles such peregrinations are not 

 impossible, but it is hardly reasonable to think 

 that otters found in, say, Canada, one or two 

 thousand miles by river from the nearest salt 

 water, ever so much as sniff the scent of the brine. 

 In certain parts of the North American continent 

 the otters undoubtedly follow the movements of 

 the migrating fish to some extent, in the same 

 manner as does the mammoth brown bear, and 

 that they make immense journeys cannot be 

 doubted ; but there are others, haunting waters 

 which the migrants do not reach, that restrict their 

 wanderings to a circuit of inland creeks, certainly 

 never visiting salt water till old age falls upon 

 them, when it is possible that, like the senile 

 caribou and the mammoth trout of the lakes, 

 they wander off into regions they have never seen 

 before. 



I believe that in this country quite a large per- 

 centage of the otter population, particularly the 

 male element, wanders back and forth between 

 the sea and the head- waters of the rivers ; but the 



