420 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
discovered it to be a large Seal fast asleep. Procuring a rope from 
their boat, they passed a running-noose over the Seal’s head, dragged 
it to the boat, and towed it to the wharf. I saw it shortly after its 
capture. It measured over six feet in length, and was of a silvery- 
grey colour when dry, but when soused over with buckets of water 
the blotches of colour in the pelt came out distinctly. This Seal, 
a female, lived in captivity for several days, and was exhibited in 
the neighbouring villages. After its demise the head was brought 
to me. It proved to be that of a very old individual ; the teeth 
are much worn down, and decayed teeth have produced caries of 
the maxilla, which discharged purulent abscesses into the nasal 
cavities. In spite of this the animal was fat and in excellent 
condition when fresh captured. In addition, I found flattened 
against the skull and embedded in cysts, eight or nine pieces of 
lead about the weight of buckshot. Mr. Southwell has recorded in 
our ‘ Transactions ’ two prior occurrences of this species on the 
Norfolk Coast; namely, from the Wash in 1881, and then from 
Breydon in 1882. I have prepared the cranium for the Norwich 
Museum. — H. W. Feilden. 
Breeding op the Otter in November. When shooting Snipe 
on Barton Broad on the 2Gtli November, 1892, I came across 
a female Otter and her young family under the following circum- 
stances : We were punting alongside a “ hover,” outside of the Carr, 
some Snipe rose, I dropped one into tall reeds, and the keeper with 
a large retriever landed to look for it. Presently the dog began to 
give tongue, and when I joined the keeper I found that an old bitch 
Otter had driven the retriever to heel, the Otter having taken up her 
abode with her cubs iu the very same patch of reeds into which the 
Snipe had fallen. The dog in the first instance had managed to 
kill one of the cubs, but the old Otter soon drove him back ; the 
keeper had seen her dodging about in the reeds and hissing loudly. 
With some difficulty we pushed the punt through the knotted 
lumps of rush, and found the recent lair of the Otter and her 
family. One young one was left on the nest or platform, and we took 
it with us. This young Otter was fed by hand for about ten days, 
when, unfortunately, it was killed by one of our house dogs. When 
I found it, the young Otter had its eyelids closed, so that it must 
have been newly littered ; by the tenth day after capture one eye 
had opened. As this occurrence fixes with precision a date for the 
