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 
ease of floods, and opens on the surface a small orifice for the admission or 
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 atatime. 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 tne 
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 difficult to capture the otter, when 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 difficulty 
of the capture, than on the prey itself, attack the otter zm posse comitatus, 
beat the banks with dogs, hedge in a space with nets, and assail the otter 
with clubs and spears, when he comes up to breathe.” ‘Lhis 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 a!l spcrts, except 
angling. 
THE CANADA OTTER. 
Tue Canada otter resembles the European species in its habite and food, 
but it may be distinguished from it, by the fur of its beily being of te same 
1 Lutra Canadensis, Desm. 
