OTTER HUNTING EXTRAORDINARY 355 



thought accessible and suitable, although many of those who 

 make up the party entertain grave reasons for doubting it 

 before the day's proceedings are brought to a close. A search 

 in an old sporting diary unearthed the recollections of such a 

 day, which may be considered worth repeating. 



It was one of the most amusing and exciting ever attended, 

 and it was only by luck that the date of it happened to be 

 brought to notice, cramped away as the announcement of the 

 meet was in the " wanted " columns, and sandwiched in with 

 a variety of other peculiar advertisements which the rustics 

 of East Anglia are wont to send to their local papers. Some 

 of these advertisements are often well worthy of perusal 

 from an amusing point of view. This one ran somewhat as 

 follows : 



"GRAND CO-OPERATIVE OTTER HUNT. 



" As of late several otters have been observed in the upper reaches of 

 the North River, a hunt will be organised on Thursday, the th day 



of 189 , starting from at 10.30 a.m. sharp. Everyone is 



invited to bring a dog/' 



Possibly, if the result of this invitation could have 

 been foreseen, it would have been omitted from the advertise- 

 ment altogether. Now, the traces of otters in the locality 

 named had frequently come under our notice when pike fish- 

 ing many a fat half-eaten fish testifying to the presence of 

 these amphibious epicures. Indeed, when fishing in the 

 twilight, they had often been seen swimming from one bank 

 to the other, and when bobbing for eels one, unconscious of or 

 undisturbed by our silent visit, landed in the rushes within a 

 yard or two of the boat. Even had this prima facie evidence 

 been wanting, there was circumstantial evidence of the ex- 

 istence of otters in this part of the river by the frantic drives 

 our dogs would make into the dense undergrowth of reeds 

 and rushes when out at exercise ; but so thick is the vegeta- 

 tion of Broadland that it is almost always impossible to 

 verify by ocular proof what is actually the cause of all the 

 excitement that " Spot " (one of the terriers in question) 



