180 CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



m in in Harris who procured :i considerable numhi-r every year, when tin- .skins were in more request 

 now, mill who generally cooked tlie tlesh, of which the naturalist once partook with the family. 

 It ra%" he >W% "dark-colonred, rank, ami sapid enough, but not agreeably so; and under the 

 skin w,is a layer of fat, as in the seal, which might render it pleasant food to a Greenhinder or 

 starving Hehridean." 



THE CAPE OTTER.* 



THIS animal has the fur soft, full, and thick, chestnut-brown, deepest on the rump, limbs, and tail, 

 brighter on the sides, and brownish-gray upon the head ; the under part of the body white. The 

 length, two feet ten inches from the muzzle to the tail, which is one foot eight inches. 



THE CANADA OTTER.f 



THE length of this creature, from the nose to the tip of the tail, which is eighteen inches, is about five 

 feet It has the fur above and below of shining brown, and much resembling that of the beaver. In its 

 habits and food it resembles the European species. In the winter season it frequents rapids and falls 

 for the advantage of open water ; and, when its usual haunts are frozen over, it will travel to a great 

 distance through the snow in search of a rapid that has resisted the frost. When seen and pursued by 

 the hunters as it is on these journeys it throws itself forward on its belly and slides through tin- 

 snow for several yards, leaving a deep furrow behind it. This movement is described as being repeated 

 with so much rapidity, that even a swift runner in snow-shoes has great difficulty in overtaking it. It 

 also doubles on its track with much cunning, and dives under the snow to elude its pursuers. When 

 closely pressed, it will turn and defend itself obstinately. When Sir John Richardson mid his party 

 were at Great Bear Lake, these otters robbed their nets, which^ had been set under the ice a few yards 

 from a piece of open water. They generally carried off the heads of the fish, leaving the bodies 

 sticking in the net. 



The Mackenzie and other rivers near to the Arctic Sea are the common residence of this otter. 

 The fur varies with the season. It is nearly as fine as beaver-wool, but not so long, and consequently 

 is not so well adapted for felt. Sir John Richardson says, that seven thousand or eight thousand skins 

 are annually exported to England. 



Other species are mentioned, as the Irish otter,J and the Brazilian otter : on these, however, 

 we cannot expatiate, but must now conclude our account of the FLESH-EATING ANIMALS. 



* Lutra Capensis genus, Aonix. Lesson. f Lutra Canadensis. Sabine. J Lutra Roensis. 



Lutra Braziliensis. 



