380 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



11 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 

 effort to gain the top ; they slide down in rapid succession where there are 

 many at a sliding-place. On one occasion we were resting on the bank of 

 Canoe Creek, a small stream near Henderson which empties into the Ohio, 

 when a pair of Otters made their appearance, and, not observing our 

 proximity, began to enjoy their sliding pastime. They glided down the 

 soap-like muddy surface of the slide with the rapidity of an arrow from a 

 bow, and we counted each one making twenty-two slides before we disturbed 

 their sportive occupation. 



" This habit, he adds, of sliding down from elevated places to the 

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

 and ice ; but is pursued also in the Southern States, where the ground is 

 seldom covered with snow, or the waters frozen over." 



These observations have been confirmed by subsequent writers, 

 and within the last few years. Thus a correspondent of ' Forest 

 and Stream,' writing from the Grand Rapids, Michigan, in March, 

 1889, remarked : — 



"The ' Otter-slide' is made and used for the same reason that boys 

 make a toboggan-slide, a place where they can play, and have fun. The 

 Otters will play for a long time, sliding dowu, and scrambling back with as 

 much apparent enjoyment as dogs having a frolic, or boys on a toboggan, 

 and with no other motive. These facts were gathered from an old hunter 

 and trapper, who was one of a surveying party with the writer in Michigan." 



Again, in ' Temple Bar ' for December, 1891, an " Old 

 Trapper" writes : — 



11 Otter-slides are as smooth and slippery as glass, caused by the Otters 

 sliding on them in play in the following manner : — Several of these amusing 

 creatures combine to select a suitable spot. Then each in succession, lying 

 flat on his belly, from the top of the bank slides down over the snow and 

 plunges into the water. The others follow, while he crawls up the bank at 

 some distance, and, running round to the sliding-place, takes his turn again 

 to perform the same evolution as before. The wet running from their 

 bodies freezes on the surface of the slide, and so the snow becomes a 

 smooth gutter of ice." 



Thus, extraordinary as it may seem, there appears no reason 

 to doubt what has been vouched for as an observed fact by those 

 who have described it. 



Few animals vary more in size than the Otter, judging by the 

 measurements and weights which have been recorded from time 



