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ployed, baited on the pan with fish, oi- hidden in the snow path, or at 

 the top of the slide J the trap is scented with various animal odors, and 

 care is taken not to handle the trap with bare hands. The sight and 

 smell of the Otter are so acute, and his wariness and sagacity of so high 

 an order, that the utmost caution is required to insure his capture. 



Audubon's observation of the "sliding" of the Otter is as follows: 

 " The Otters ascend the bank at a place suitable for their diversion, and 

 sometimes where it is very steep, so that they are obliged to make quite 

 an efibrt to gain the top. They slide down in rapid succession where 

 there are many at a sliding place. On one occasion we were resting 

 ourself on the bank of Canoe Creek, a small stream near Henderson, 

 which empties into the Ohio, when a pair of Otters made their appear- 

 ance, and, not observing our proximity, began to enjoy their sliding 

 pastime. They glided down the soap-like, muddy slope of the slide with 

 the rapidity of an arrow from a bow, [f] and we counted each one making 

 twenty-two slides before we disturbed their sportive occupation. 



"This habit of the Otter of sliding down from elevated places to the 

 borders of streams, is not confined to cold countries, or to slides on ice or 

 snow, but is pursued in the southern States, where the earth is seldom 

 covered with snow, or the waters frozen over. Along the reserve-dams 

 of the rice fields of Carolina and Georgia, these slides are very common. 

 From the fact that this occur.s in most cases during winter, about the 

 period of the rutting season, we are inclined to believe that this propen- 

 sity may be traced to those instincts which lead the sexes to their peri- 

 odical associations, 



" The Otter is a very expert swimmer, and can overtake almost any 

 fish ; and as it is a voracious animal, it doubtless destroys a great number 

 of fresh water fishes annually. We are not aware of its having a prefer- 

 ence for any particular species, although it is highly probable that it 

 has. About twenty-five years ago, we went early one autumnal morning 

 to study the habits of the Otter at Gordon and Spring's Ferry, on the 

 Cooper River, six miles above Charleston [S. C], where they were rep- 

 resented as being quite abundant. They came down with the receding 

 tide in groups of families of five or six together. In the space of two 

 hours we counted forty-six. They soon separated, ascending the differ- 

 ent creeks in the salt marshes, and engaged in capturing mullets {_MugU2. 

 In most cases they came to the bank with the fish in their mouths, 

 dispatching it in a minute, and then hastened back again after more 

 prey. They returned up the river to their more secure retreat with the 

 rising tide. In the small lakes and ponds of the interior of Carolina, 



t "A statement certainly too figurative for literal acceptation.'' (Cones.) 



