The Zoologist — September, 1870. 2281 



Natural History of Wicklow and Kerry. 

 By A. B. Brooke, Esq. 



The following are a few rough notes on the natural history of 

 Wicklow and Kerry, taken this year during the months of March, 

 April and May, and may be interesting to some of your readers. I 

 am very sorry ray time at Dingle, in Kerry, was so limited, otherwise 

 I would have tried to give a fuller list of the sea birds breeding in that 

 interesting locality, but I hope to be able to do so at some future time. 



Otters. — Are still common in these counties. Frequently coming 

 on their tracks about Lough Broad, a large brackish lake on the east 

 coast of Wicklow, separated from the sea by a low shingly beach ; and 

 being anxious to secure one or two specimens for my collection, I 

 examined its shores very carefully. On the top of a grassy bank in a 

 lonely corner of the lake, surrounded by deep, wide dykes, full of 

 trout and eels, I came upon a place that was evidently the favourite 

 haunt of an otter. Three broad well-beaten runs led to his bed in the 

 middle of the bank, upon which spot he used to lie coiled up in the 

 sun all day long, and from which he could, on the slightest approach 

 of danger, glide into one of the surrounding dykes, the banks of which, 

 being all grown over with long rushy grass and brambles, formed a 

 secure retreat: this he had without doubt just done, the grass being 

 pressed down and the bed dry and warm. Setting a strong steel trap 

 carefully where the runs met, I attached it to a cord long enough to 

 allow him to get into the water, which, if possible, is the first thing an 

 otter does when he finds himself caught. Early the next morning on 

 visiting the trap, I saw under the bank a long black line, and on 

 getting closer made out the wild, wicked-looking face of an immense 

 otter. The moment our eyes met, he dived without a sound. I then 

 saw he was caught by the hind leg, and being afraid he might not be 

 securely held, and seeing his great size and strength, I was very 

 careful, and was obliged to play him like a fish for more than ten 

 minutes before I could get him on the bank. He turned out a 

 magnificent dog otter, and his dimensions, most carefully taken, were 

 as follows : — 



Length of bead and body - - - . - 30^ iuches. 



tail ------- 191 „ 



Girth of neck -.-.-.. 151 ^^ 



„ behind fore-legs ----- 18 „ 



Weight 22 lbs. 



