79 
IV. 
THE OTTER. 
By Thomas Southwell, F.Z.S. 
Rend 17th December, 1872. 
Of the larger indigenous (juadrupeds inhabiting Norfolk, the 
otter has sull'ered less from the disturbing iniluences of man than 
any other. Ihc fox has undergone a succession of persecutions 
and protections which have exterminated and rene-wed the race 
probably more than once, dhe same in a less degree may be said 
of the badger, and it one of the latter is now at large in this 
county it is doubtless either a straggler, or descended from an 
introduced stock. The otter, however, has survived, although in 
diminislied numbers, partly from the peculiar features of the 
country Avhich forms its great stronghold, and partly from its not 
being found in sufficient numbers to render it worthy the attention of 
the sportsman whore otter hunting would be practicable. Although 
most fre(|uent in East ^Norfolk, there is scarcely a stream in the 
county, however small, near which the otter has not been found. 
In the West Norfolk riv'ers, Ouse, Wissey, Nar, upper AVensum, 
and other minor streams, it occurs occasionally ; in South-east 
Norfolk, the Waveney is a favourite resort, but the North- 
eastern division of the county, watered by the Yare, Bure, and 
Ant, and interspersed Avith those remarkable sheets of Avater 
knoAvn as the “ broads,” forms its great stronghold. Here in the 
solitude of the Avide spread reed beds Avhich fringe these slu"<nsh 
strejims, or in the “ broads ” themselves, swarming Avith fish, the 
otter fijids peace and plenty, and rears its young ones comparatiA’ely 
undisturbed ; for so great is its power of concealment, aided by its 
nocturnal habits — so wary is it, and so difficult of a])proach its 
natural haunts, that 1 am of opinion, strengthened by conversations 
1 have liad Avilh men avIio have spent their lives about the Avaters, 
that tlio number annually killed by the tmp or the gun of the 
