96 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS.  [cHap. xn 
CHAPTER XII. 
Tke Otter: Habits—Catching of—Shooting—Attachment to each other— 
Anecdotes—Fish killed by. 
Having lately seen the tracks of three or four otters about the 
edge of the burn, I had some strong traps placed on a sand- 
bank where they were in the nightly habit of landing. For 
some unknown reason of their own, they appeared to leaye the 
water at this bank, and, after going round some alder bushes, to 
return again to the pool. We placed the traps with great care, 
fastening them strongly, and covering them with sand. Before 
setting the trap for an otter, both the hands of the person who 
sets it and the trap itself should be well washed and rubbed 
with sand, in order to take away the human scent as much as 
possible. After setting the trap, a small branch of a tree should 
be used to smooth the ground and obliterate all footmarks, and 
then dipping the branch in the water, the whole place should be 
well sprinkled, which generally does away with all marks of 
people having been about it. As otters invariably have some 
particular points at which they leave the water, it is easy to 
know where to place the trap. They do not, however, always 
unt the same part of astream, so the trapper must have some 
patience. After our traps had been set for two nights, we found, 
on going to them in the morning, that an otter had been caught, 
and by twisting the chain round the root of a tree had contrived - 
to break it, and escape with the trap on its leg. Isent home for my 
retriever, who, from having been severely bitten by other otters, 
was very eager in pursuing them. We hunted up and down the 
burn for some time in vain; at last we found his track and that 
of the trap in the sand at a shallow place of the water. This 
encouraged us, and we renewed our search. At last, nearly a 
mile from where the trap had been set, the dog began to run up 
and down the bank, whining and showing evident symptoms of 
