CANADA OTTER. 
Specimen from the Colorado, in Texas. 
From nose to root of tail, - - • 
Length of tail, - - - " ‘ 
From point of nose to eye, - 
“ “ to ear, - - - 
Between the ears, - - - - 
Height, ------ 
Around the body behind the shoulder. 
Around the body, (middle,) - 
Weight 20 lbs. 
HABITS. 
We concluded our first volume with a brief account of Spermophilus 
Richardsonii, the last animal figured in plates 1 to 50 inclusive, of our 
illustrations of the Quadrupeds of North America. Having, since that 
volume was written, published about 60 more plates, we now take up our 
pen to portray the habits and describe the forms and colours of the species 
figured in plates 51 to 100 inclusive, and shall, we hope, be able to 
give our readers tolerably good accounts of them ; although, alas ! the 
davs of our youth are gone, when, full of enthusiasm, and anxious to 
examine every object in nature within our reach, the rising sun never 
found us slumbering away the fresh hours of the morning, but beamed 
upon our path through the deep forest, or lighted up to joy and glad- 
ness the hill side or mountain top, which we had already gained in 
quest of the birds or the beasts that were to be met with ; and where 
we often prolonged our rambles until the shades of evening found 
us yet at a distance from our camp, loaded with wild turkeys, ducks, 
geese, and perchance an Otter. 
Fresh and pleasant in our mind is the recollection of our early expe- 
ditions among the wild woods, and along the unvisited shores of our new 
country ; and although more than forty years of varied and busy life have 
passed since the Otter was shot and drawn, whose figure we have given, 
we will try to take you with us to a spot on the eastern banks of the fair 
Ohio. It is a cold wintry morning : the earth concealed by a slight cover- 
ing of snow, and the landscape in all its original wildness. Here let us 
proceed cautiously, followed by that constant companion, our faithful dog. 
Whilst we are surveying the quiet waters as they roll onward toward the 
great Mississippi, in whose muddy current they will lose their clear and 
limpid character, and become as opaque and impetuous as the waves of 
that mighty river of the West, we see a dark object making its way 
Feet Inches. 
2 7 
1 6 
0 If 
0 3| 
0 3f 
0 10 
1 5| 
1 
