UNCOMMON PETS. 
A series of articles on the Care and 
Keep of Animals in Captivity. 
By P. WELLINGTON 
FARMBOROUGH, 
ELZiS.) HW.S-) Cuc. 
TV. THE OTTER. 
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S. 
COMMON OTTER. 
EAVING for a time the exotic forms of uncommon pets, this article of. the 
series deals with an animal indigenous to this country, yet at the same time 
one that is not often seen in a state of captivity. This is owing to the constant 
persecution it undergoes at the hands of those interested in the fishing rights of 
rivers inhabited or frequented by the animal, either by the watchfulness of the 
keepers attached to the preserve or from the systematic hunting down by well- 
organised packs of otter-hounds. 
The skin of the Sea Otter is probably the most valuable of animal furs, and in 
one court of Kurope—the Russian—ranks almost as Imperial purple, as none but those of 
royal blood may wear it. This otter is, however, not only specifically but generically 
distinct from the Common Otter. The sea otter is reputed to have the most acute 
hearing and power of smell of almost any living animal, and it has been reported that a 
small fire lighted five miles to the windward of some of these animals has sufficed to 
alarm them and cause them to leave the locality, and it has been further stated that the 
footmarks of a human being must be washed over by many tides before the traces 
cease to alarm the sea otter and prevent it from landing on that part of the coast, 
It is a curious fact in connection with the common otter that it has no settled 
lair and, with the exception of a female and her young, never sleeps in the same 
spot for two nights running, although its knowledge of local topography is most 
extensive ; an otter, when taking up his quarters in a district, is probably familiar 
with every hole, drain or culvert for miles around. If possible the entrance and exit 
to any hiding-place that may be selected is situated under water, so that the animal 
may always leave or enter his dwelling unobserved, and without leaving any scent for 
the hounds or other enemies to trace it by. It very often happens that the otter 
selects a hiding-place behind a water-wheel so that, although the slats permit the otter 
to get through easily, the hounds are quite unable to do so from their larger size. 
The otter is not often noticed when wild for two reasons, one of which is that it 
is to a great extent nocturnal in its habits, sleeping in the day and ranging the rivers by 
night; and the other is that it does not drop into' the water with a splash like a 
water-rat_ and thus draw attention to itself- from a passer-by, but glides into the 
river as noiselessly as if it were entering a bath of oil, hardly making a ripple on the 
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