THE OTTER PLAYS ON 61 
its back a moment later and endeavoured in 
passing to kick it off. 
Though I had frequented the woods for years 
and had seen numerous otter slides, this was 
the beginning of my acquaintance with this 
audacious and capable animal whose play habit 
and individuality so enliven the wilderness. 
Play probably is the distinguishing trait of 
this peculiar animal. He plays regularly—in 
pairs, in families, or with numbers who appear 
to meet for this special purpose. Evidently he 
plays when this is not connected with food 
getting or mating. He plays in Florida, in the 
Rocky Mountains, and in Alaska; in every 
month of the year; in the sunlight, the moon- 
light, or darkness. The slippery, ever freshly 
used appearance of bank slides indicates con- 
stant play. 
The best otter play that I ever watched was 
staged one still winter night by a stream in the 
Medicine Bow Mountains. The snowy slide 
lay in the moonlight, with the shadow of a soli- 
tary fir tree across it. It extended about forty 
feet down a steep slope to the river. The 
slide had not been in use for two nights, but 
coasters began to appear about nine o’clock. 
A pair opened the coasting. They climbed 
up the slope together and came down singly. 
No others were as yet in sight. But in a few 
