CANADA OTTER. 
7 
bough, and thence climbed up to a broken branch from which an aperture 
into the upper part of the hollow enabled us to examine the interior. At 
the bottom there was quite a lai’ge sjaace or chamber to which the Otters 
retired, but whether for security or to sleep we could not decide. 
A'ext morning we returned to the spot, accompanied by one of our 
neighbours, and having approached, and stopped up the entrance under 
water as noiselessly as possible, we cut a hole in the side of the tree four 
01 five feet from the ground, and as soon as it was large enough to admit 
our heads, we peeped in and discovered three Otters on a sort of bed 
composed of the inner bark of trees and other soft substances, such as 
water grasses. We continued cutting the hole we had made, larger, and 
when sufficiently widened, took some green saplings, split them at the 
but-end, and managed to fix the head of each animal firmly to the 
ground by passing one of these split pieces over his neck, and then press- 
ing the stick forcibly downwards. Our companion then crept into the 
hollow, and soon killed the Otters, with which we returned home. 
The American Otter frequents running streams, large ponds, and more 
sparingly the shores of some of our great lakes. It prefers those waters 
which are clear, and makes a hole or burrow in the banks, the entrance 
to which is under water. 
This species has a singular habit of sliding off the wet sloping banks 
into the water, and the trappers take advantage of this habit to catch the 
animal by placing a steel-trap near the bottom of their sliding places, so 
that the Otters occasionally put their foot into it as they are swiftly 
gliding toward the water. 
In Carolina, a very common mode of capturing the Otter is by tying a 
pretty large fish on the pan of a steel-trap, which is sunk in the water 
where it is from five to ten feet deep. The Otter dives to the bottom to 
seize the fish, is caught either by the nose or foot, and is generallv 
found drowned. At other times the trap is set under the water, without 
bait, on a log, one end of which projects into the water, whilst the other 
rests on the banks of a pond or river ; the Otter, in endeavouring to mount 
the log, is caught in the trap. 
Mr. Godman, in his account of these singular quadrupeds, states that 
“ their favourite sport is sliding, and for this purpose in winter the highest 
ridge of snow is selected, to the top of which the Otters scramble, where, 
lying on the belly with the fore-feet bent backwards, they give them- 
selves an impulse with their hind legs and swiftly glide head-foremost 
down the declivity, sometimes for the distance of twenty yards. This 
sport they continue apparently with the keenest enjoyment until fatigue 
or hunger induces them to desist.” 
