87 
exceeds that of the separate sources provided for their nourish- 
ment.* 
The place usually chosen hy the otter for depositing her young, 
is a hole in the bank of a river, the lower part of a hollow tree, 
an old drain, or some such locality ; Nos. 3 and 4 were found 
under the floor of a bathing-house ; the nest of No. 4, Mr. Gurney 
describes as composed wholly of ivy leaves, and only just large 
enough to contain the single young one, which was about the size 
of a largo rat. The nest found at Ranwerth from which the 
three young ones (No. 1) were taken, ^Ir. Elwin says was near the 
water, under the remains of a decayed stump ; it was full of reeds, 
the inside appearing to be lined with the feather part of them, it 
was very warm, and had an inlet near the top but a little on one 
side. No. 10 young ones were taken from a'nost under a straw stack 
at Trigby, threo-(;[uartors-of-a-milo from the water. I am indebted 
to Mr. F. Norgatc, of Sparham, for first calling my attention to a 
form of “nest” which I have since found is not unusual in the 
reed-beds of Norfolk, and which 1 can only imagine (if peculiar to 
this reedy district, as 1 have reason to believe it is,) isowing to the 
flat, treeless nature of the surrounding country. In the reed-beds 
where these nests are found the shelter is perfect, but any de- 
])rcssiou in the ground would instantly be filled with water, if, 
* On the 15th of Marcli, 1S73, through the kindness of Mr. Cole, I had 
the opportunity of examining the fresli skin of a female otter, killed, with 
its single young one, two days previously at Ranwortlu The skin had been 
roughly removed, and the mammary glands were left attached ; those 
nearest the tail were distended, and full of milk. The posterior }>air of 
nipples, which were evidently those used by the young one, were about three 
inches from the root of the tail, the second jiair, three inches from these ; 
the latter contained a small quantity of watery fluid, but presented no 
appearance of having been sucked. We could find no trace of a third pair 
of nipples, although we removed the fur from one side for that puriiose. 
The young one (also a female) killed at the same time, measured 20 inches, 
and weighed ff lbs. ; it was believed by the marshman, by whom the old 
female was known to have frequented the neighbourhood where she was 
killed, for some time past, to be about two months old, and I am inclined to 
think, from the forward state of its teeth, Avhich must already have rendered 
its visits to its parent somewhat jiainful, that, notwithstanding its small size, 
his estimate is about correct. The young ones born at the Zoological Gar- 
dens took fish at about seven weeks old, and I think the present little one 
woulil not l>e far from that age. 
