8 
CANADA OTTER. 
This statement is confirmed by Cartwright, Hearne, Richardsox^, and 
more recent writers who have given the history of this species, and is in 
accordance with our owm personal observations. 
The Otters ascend the bank at a place suitable for their diversion, and 
sometimes where it is very steep, so that they are obliged to make quite an 
efibrt to gain the top ; they slide down in rapid succession where there are 
many at a sliding place. On one occasion we were resting ourself on the 
bank of Canoe Creek, a small stream near Henderson, which empties 
into the Ohio, when a pair of Otters made their appearance, and not 
observing our proximity, began to enjoy their sliding pastime. They 
glided down the soap-like muddy surface of the slide with the rapidity of 
an arrow from a bow, and we counted each one making twenty-two 
slides before we disturbed their sportive occupation. 
This habit of the Otter of sliding down from elevated places to the 
borders of streams, is not confined to cold countries, or to slides on the 
snow or ice, but is pursued in the Southern States, where the earth is 
seldom covered with snow, or the waters frozen over. Along the reserve- 
dams of the rice fields of Carolina and Georgia, these slides are very 
common. From the fact that this occurs in most cases during winter, 
about the period of the rutting season, we are inclined to the belief that 
this propensity may be traced to those instincts which lead the sexes to 
their periodical associations. 
Richardson says that this species has the habit of travelling to a great 
distance through the snow in search of some rapid that has resisted the 
severity of the winter frosts, and that if seen and pursued by hunters on 
these journeys, it will throw itself forward on its belly and slide through 
the snow for several yards, leaving a deep furrow behind it, which move- 
ment is repeated with so much rapidity, that even a swift runner on snow 
shoes has some difficulty in overtaking it. He also remarks that it dou- 
bles on its track with much cunning, and dives under the snow to elude 
its pursuers. 
The Otter is a very expert swimmer, and can overtake almost any fish, 
and as it is a voracious animal, it doubtless destroys a great number of 
fresh water fishes annually. We are not aware of its having a preference 
for any particular species, although it is highly probable that it has. 
About twenty-five years ago we went early one autumnal morning to 
study the habits of the Otter at Gordon and Spring’s Ferry, on the Cooper 
River, six miles above Charleston, where they were represented as being 
quite abundant. They came down with the receding tide in groups or 
families of five or six together. In the space of two hours we counted 
forty-six. They soon separated, ascended the different creeks in the salt 
