OTTER-HUNTING 



" chain " is the line of air bubbles, or " bells," sent up 

 by this animal as it swims under water the cry 

 " bubble avent" is sometimes used by country-folk, or 

 hunters, when this sign of the beast's passage is noted. 

 The otter is " put down" when he is driven from his 

 holt, or hiding-place. The animal is " gazed," not 

 "viewed." " Heu gaze!" is the cry used when the 

 beast is sighted. The otter's lair or resting-place is 

 known variously as "holt," "lodge," "kennel," 

 "couch," and "hover." 



The staff consists of a huntsman, usually an en- 

 thusiastic amateur, and two whips, and much assist- 

 ance is often rendered by those followers who understand 

 the sport, and who, armed with long poles, are not 

 afraid to rush middle deep, if necessary, into the stream 

 and turn the hunted beast from some holt or other 

 secure place of vantage towards which it is making. 

 Two or three terriers, preferably rough-coated, are 

 usually taken out, for the purpose of pushing the beast 

 from its holt ; without these useful allies it would often 

 be a difficult matter to shift the otter from its resting- 

 place. An otter is a sufficiently formidable beast of 

 chase, and the terrier that has to tackle him must be 

 a hardy and high-couraged one ; no creature, in fact, 

 knows better how to use its teeth than an otter, and 

 the unaccustomed spectator will do well not to try to 

 "tail" or otherwise meddle with one of these animals 

 in the course of the hunt, if he values his fingers. 

 "Tailing" an otter that is, seizing the beast by his 

 tail and flinging him to the hounds, or turning him, is 

 an operation of extreme nicety, and only old hands 

 know how to achieve it successfully. The tail, by the 

 way, is, in otter-hunting parlance, often known as the 

 "pole"; while the feet are termed "pads," as in fox- 

 and hare-hunting. 



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