128 MAMMALIA — OTTER. 



These voracious animals are generally found at the sides of lakes and 

 rivers, but particularly the former, in which they destroy so much more than 

 they devour, that they will sometimes spoil a pond in the space of a few 

 nights. They do equal mischief by tearing in pieces the fishermen's nets, 

 which they infallibly do, whenever they happen to get entangled in them. 

 In forming its retreat the otter displays great sagacity. It, makes the en- 

 trance under water, burrows upwards, provides several cells to retire to in 

 case of floods, and opdns on the surface a small orifice for the admission of 

 air, which orifice it contrives so as to be concealed by a thick bush. The 

 female goes with young about nine weeks, and generally produces four or 

 five at a time. These are always found at the edge of the water; and, if 

 under the protection of the dam, she teaches them, on the approach of an 

 enemy, to plunge, like herself, into the deep, and escape among the weeds 

 or rushes that fringe the stream. It is, therefore, only in the absence of the 

 dam, that the young can be taken ; and in some places there are dogs pur- 

 posely trained for discovering their retreats. One of the favorite pastimes 

 of the otter is, to get on a high ridge of snow, bend his fore feet backward, 

 and slide down the side of it, sometimes to the distance of more than twenty 

 yards. 



If taken while young, the otter may be tamed and taught to fish for its 

 master, and will become almost as affectionate and docile as the dog. 



For the destruction which he makes among the finny tribe, and also the 

 disturbance which he gives them in their haunts, the otter is an object of 

 abhorrence to the angler. Old Izaak Walton calls them " villainous ver- 

 min," and many other hard names, and declares that, in his judgment, " all 

 men that keep otter-dogs ought to have pensions from the king, to encou- 

 rage them to destroy the breed of these base otters." 



Unless it can be shot, it is difl^icult to capture the otter, \i hen the water is 

 not frozen, as it takes to the water, dives, and occasionally " vents," as the 

 hunter terms it ; that is, raises its nose to the surface to breathe. " The 

 old hunters, (says a recent writer,) who set more value upon the diflficulty 

 of the capture, than on the prey itself, attack the otter in posse comitatus, 

 beat the banks with dogs, hedge in a space with nets, and assail the otter 

 Avith clubs and spears, when he comes up to breathe." This was precisely 

 the manner in which an otter hunt was conducted in the days of honest 

 Izaak, and he seems to have considered it as the finest of all sports, except 

 angling. 



THE CANADA OTTER. i 



The Canada otter resembles the European species in its habits and food, 

 but it miy be distinguished from it, by the fur of its belly being of the same 



' Lutra Canadensis, Desji. 



