OCCASIONAL NOTES. 173 
his conclusions that “Otters, with other animals, appear to breed most 
commonly in the spring”; and T am inclined to think that the instances 
adduced tend to prove that such is not generally the case. It is very 
difficult to judge the age of a young Otter, they differ so much in size and 
weight, but judging to the best of my ability, from the data given I should 
think the ten young ones mentioned by Mr. Cocks would be born somewhat 
as follows :—No. 1, early in September; No. 2, early in January; No. 8, 
early in August; No. 4, October; No. 5, February; No. 6, February ; 
No.7, November (?); No. 8, March (?); No. 9, October (?); No. 10, May (?). 
There is, I think, more uncertainty about the last four than there is about 
the others. This shows a sufficiently wide margin certainly, but if I am 
right in my estimate of their age, only two of the examples mentioned 
appear to have been born in the spring. One of the young ones now in 
the Zoological Gardens Mr. Cocks says must undoubtedly have been born 
in the autumn, and indications mentioned by that gentleman as observed 
in the case of the two females now in his possession seem to point to the 
dead season of the year as the most probable period for the young to be 
born. In ‘Land and Water’ for March, 1873, it is stated that a young 
Otter which could not see (sic) was picked up dead on the banks of the 
Want, a tributary of the River Don, on the 15th December, 1872. In the 
same paper for January 16, 1875, two young Otters are said to have been 
killed while in company with their mother near Maidenhead on 10th 
January, 1875; and “a little baby Otter” is said to have been caught by 
the tail in January, 1875, by a man lying in ambush for wild duck at 
Llechrhwyd, in the issue of the same journal for April 10, 1875. The 
following cases in which it is possible to form an approximate idea of the 
age of the young ones, or in which the condition of the female indicated the 
time of breeding, have come under my own notice since the paper to which 
you did me the honour to allude (p. 18) was published :— 
February 23, 1873. A female big with young. 
March 15, 1873. Female and young one; the latter 20 inches long and 
1} tb. weight. probably six or eight weeks old. 
April 12, 1873. Two young ones, both females, 25% inches long and 
4} Ibs. weight, and 25% inches long and 42 tbs. weight respectively— 
probably rather under four months old. 
End of November, 1874. A female giving suck (Rev. E. J. Blofield). 
- November 24, 1876. A female giving suck; three teats on each side all 
distended with milk. 
December 26, 1875. Three young ones, one of which was taken alive: 
when I saw it on the 30th April following I took it to be about six 
months old. 
January 5,1877. An old female and three young ones. The female was 
still giving suck (three teats on each side all in use); although the young 
