58 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 
runner on snow-shoes has much trouble in overtaking it. It also doubles on its 
track with much cunning, and dives under the snow to elude its pursuers. When 
closely pressed, it will turn and defend itself with great obstinacy. In the spring 
of 1826, at Great Bear Lake, the Otters frequently robbed our nets, which were 
set under the ice, at the distance of a few yards from a piece of open water. ‘They 
generally carried off the heads of the fish, and left the bodies sticking in the net. 
The Canada Otter has one litter annually about the middle of April, of from 
one to three young. It inhabits the Mackenzie and other rivers nearly to the 
Arctic sea; and there appears to be no difference betwixt the skins obtained 
on the shores of the Pacific, or in the neighbourhood of Hudson’s Bay. Seven or 
eight thousand are imported annually into England. 
DESCRIPTION. 
The Canada Otter may be distinguished from the European species, by the fur of its belly 
being of the same shining brown colour with that of the back. It is a much larger animal, 
and has, in proportion, a shorter tail than the European one. Its fur very much resembles 
that of the beaver, having the same general colours, and, like it, consisting of a very fine 
waved and shining down, intermixed with longer and coarser hairs. Hearne remarks, that the 
colour and quality of its fur varies much with the season. In summer, when the hair is very 
short, it is almost black; but, as the winter advances, it turns to a beautiful reddish-brown, 
except a spot under the chin, which is gray. Otter-fur is nearly of the same fineness with 
beaver-wool, but being shorter, and not so well adapted for making felt, its price fluctuates 
more with the fashion. 
The length of the Canada Otter is about five feet, including the tail, which measures 
eighteen inches, 
