THE FERiE NATURE OF THE LONDON PARKS. 
167 
of the Serpentine, and afforded sanctuary to the herons which 
Henry the Eighth was at such pains to protect, were at one 
time the haunt of otters. These animals would find their way 
up the two small streams which entered London from the west 
and north-west, viz., the West Bourne and the Eye Bourne 
(Tyburn;; and, remaining concealed by day, would find their 
food at night amongst the coarse fish which tenanted the pools. 
But when, in 1730, all the ponds were united into the hand- 
some piece of water called the Serpentine, the streams covered 
in, and the ground cleared and made more ornamental, the home 
of the otter was destroyed. For some years afterwards, however, 
a stray one seems now and then to have reappeared, but only to 
meet with that reception from a crowd which, prompted by 
thoughtlessness and inhumanity, is usually accorded to strange 
animals. 
During the summer of 1739 a large dog otter took up its 
abode in St. James’s Park, and there made free with his- 
Majesty’s fish. For a long time it escaped all the gins and 
snares laid for it ; but at length its death being resolved on, a 
regular otter-hunt was organised, at the desire of the Earl of 
Essex, who was then Ranger, and Sir Robert Walpole’s pack of 
otter-hounds was borrowed for the occasion. The otter had 
taken shelter on Duck Island, but was soon driven into the 
moat, and was closely pressed by the hounds at his frequent 
“ venting,” though sometimes he dived half the length of the 
canal which surrounded Duck Island. After a long chase he 
left the water, and attempted to run to the great canal, but 
before he reached it he was speared by Mr. Smith, the huntsman 
of the pack. This unprecedented otter-hunt took place in the 
presence of his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, the 
Earl of Essex, and several other noblemen, who, armed with 
spears, all took an active part in the sport. According to the 
papers of the day, the animal measured five feet in length. 
But although so many years have elapsed since this incident 
occurred, it is by no means the latest date at which the otter 
has been met with in the neighbourhood of London, if not 
actually in a London park. In March 1829 a young otter, 
about eight months old, was killed at Kilburn in a field which 
is now the site of the railway station. In the autumn of 1831 
an otter haunted the Brent, where the head of Kingsbury 
Reservoir now is. The reservoir was not then formed, and at 
that particular spot was a famous bed of flags, well calculated to 
afford shelter to such an animal. About the end of September 
or beginning of October in that year this animal was shot. A 
third otter was seen for several months during the latter part of 
1847 about the brook between Hendon and Edgware, and was 
several times hunted by the harriers of Mr. Dancer, of Kenton, 
but never killed. A fourth, which was described as a very fine 
