308 
THE STORY OF THE OTTER. 
shore, precisely as the falcon is trained to catch terrestrial game. The Hin¬ 
doos have brought the art of otter training to great perfection, and keep their 
otters regularly tethered with ropes and straw collars on the banks of the river. 
I can bear testimony as to the long journeys undertaken by the otter 
from river to- river across country; these journeys mostly taking place during 
the winter. On such occasions they go so fast that a man has great difficulty 
in overtaking them. On the ice they proceed by a series of what boys call 
“a run and a slide/’ that is, they make several jumps and then slide ahead 
flat on their bellies, as far as their impetus and the smoothness of the ice permit, 
and then do- the same thing over again, and so on. A curious habit of this 
otter is its propensity for sliding down smooth and steep banks, either of 
snow or of mud. Such gambols have been watched by me several times. It 
appears that in winter the animals select the highest ridge of snow, on to 
the top of which they scramble, whence they give themselves an impulse with 
their hind-legs, and swiftly glide head-foremost down the declivity, some¬ 
times for a distance of twenty yards. This sport they continue apparently 
with the greatest enjoyment until fatigue or hunger induces them to desist. 
A pair on a mud-bank made upwards of twenty-two slides before they were 
disturbed. 
The fur of the otter is more valuable than that of any other North Amer- 
can animal, and is in good condition from November till the spring, but is at 
its best period during the latter season. 
Otters are usually caught in steel traps, which are set beneath the water 
where one of the “slides” or tracks of the animals leads to the margin. Some¬ 
times the trap is, however, placed at the top of the slide and covered with 
snow. In neither case is any bait used; but in all methods the greatest care is 
necessary that no traces of the trapper’s presence should remain, as the otter 
has very acute smell and sight, and is exceedingly wary and cunning. 
The otter is to be found in every part of the globe, and nearly every spe¬ 
cies can be tamed. It must be taken young, however, in which case it be¬ 
comes greatly attached to its master. It will follow him with the faithful¬ 
ness of a dog, but under no circumstances will it follow any other. 
In the Imperial Park, at Stuttgart, Germany, are many ponds in which 
there are a large number of water fowls. For six or seven weeks a tame otter 
from a neighboring pond came nightly to feast off the fowls. It carried on 
its robbery so- boldly that guards were set to> watch for it. It destroyed all the 
duck eggs it could find on the islands and main land, and ate young ducks 
and geese, while old birds died daily from the wounds received from its bites. 
