THE OTTER. 381 



to time by different observers ; but allowance should be made for 

 age, and possibly also for sex, although there is no marked 

 difference in size between the male and female (the latter perhaps 

 being somewhat smaller), and both continue to grow for some 

 years after reaching puberty. 



The measurements given by Bell in his ' British Quadrupeds ' 

 must have been taken from comparatively young animals. A 

 good Otter will measure about four feet in length, and weigh 

 from 20 to 25 lbs., the female a few pounds less. We can 

 scarcely credit the statement of Pennant that (a century ago) one 

 was found in the River Lea, between Hertford and Ware, the 

 weight of which was 40 lbs. The weight in this case, probably, 

 was only estimated. 



In September, 1888, we were Otter-hunting with Mr. Collier 

 in Somersetshire, and one day, after a run of some eight miles, 

 killed a good Otter, weighing 16 lbs. On that occasion Mr. 

 Collier informed us that during the previous week he had killed 

 three Otters, whose united weight amounted to 64 lbs. In 

 April, 1892, we were out with Mr. Courteney Tracy's pack on 

 the Wiltshire Avon, and saw two Otters killed. The owner, in 

 reply to our enquiries, then informed us that it would be an 

 unusually heavy Otter that would weigh 25 lbs. 



Our old friend Mr. F. H. Salvin, of Whitmoor House, Guild- 

 ford, saw one killed in the Lune, near Lancaster, some years ago, 

 by Mr. Lomax's Otter-hounds, of the exceptional weight of 

 25 lbs. ; and Mr. Lomax then told him that the largest he ever 

 saw weighed 30 lbs. It was found in a hollow willow in Warwick- 

 shire, and from the worn condition of its teeth was considered to 

 be very old. 



Mr. F. V. Starkey, of Wrenbury Hall, Cheshire, reported 

 that in February, 1886, an unusually large Otter was killed in 

 the brook which runs through his village. The length was stated 

 to be 48J in., and the weight 30 lbs. 



The late Hon. G. R. Hill was of opinion that in Shropshire, 

 where he resided, and where, as is well known, he hunted a pack 

 of Otter-hounds, the average weight of a full-grown dog Otter is 

 from 20 to 25 lbs., and of a bitch Otter from 15 to 18 lbs. The 

 largest he ever killed, as reported in * The Field' of June 20th, 

 1867, was an old dog Otter weighing 31 lbs. This is one of the 

 heaviest British-killed specimens of which we have been able to 



