SLIDING OF THE OTTER 
ness, so that, as Hornaday remarks, a single otter is worth 
more to a “‘zoo”’ than a score of beavers, because it is con- 
stantly amusing. For one trick it is famous —its  gtter 
sliding. When in winter the animal is in a hurry, Sliding. 
it has a way of making a few leaps and then hurling itself 
forward on its belly over ice or snow, especially down an 
incline. But it also does this ‘just for fun.” 
“‘Their favorite sport,” as Godman describes this diversion, ‘‘is sliding, 
and for this purpose in winter the highest ridge of snow is selected, to the 
top of which the otters scramble, where, lying on the belly, with the fore 
feet bent backwards, they give themselves an impulse with the hind legs 
and swiftly glide head-foremost down the declivity, sometimes for the dis- 
tance of twenty yards. This sport they continue, apparently with the keen- 
est enjoyment, until fatigue or hunger induces them to desist.”’ 
Usually the ter- 
mination of the 
slope must give 
them a long skate 
across the ice, or a 
plunge into the 
water, in order to 
be satisfactory ; but 
the sport still at- 
tracts them where 
there is no snow or 
ice at all, for Audu- 
bon describes mud 
slides on the stream banks of the southern states, and along 
the dikes of the rice fields, where slippery soil answers all 
purposes, and deeply worn troughs attest the frequency of 
the play. His account of one of their dens in the hollow base 
of a tree in a swamp is also of great interest. 
A very remarkable animal is its oceanic cousin the sea otter, 
whose skin is now by far the most costly of furs. Its home is 
185 
THE SEA OLTER,. 
