THE STORY OF THE OTTER . 
309 
Ic was only with great difficulty that this robber knight was surprised at his 
work and killed. 
The sea-otter is a large marine animal found in some parts of South 
America. It is also found along the Pacific coast, as far north as Alaska. 
The female sea-otter produces but a single young one at a birth, so that 
the increase af the species can be, at the best, but slow. The young may 
apparently be born at any season of the year, and do not attain maturity till 
four or five years old. The mother sleeps in the water on her back, with her 
young clasped between her fore-paws. The pup cannot live without its 
NORTH AMERICAN OTTERS. 
mother, though frequent attempts have been made by the natives to raise 
them, as they often capture them alive, but, like some other species of wild 
animals, it seems to be so deeply imbued with fear of man that it invariably 
dies from self-imposed starvation. 
The food of the sea-otters is almost entirely composed of clams, mussels, 
and sea-urchins, of which they are very fond, and which they break by 
striking the shells together, held in each fore-paw, sucking out the contents 
as they are fractured by these efforts; they also eat crabs, and the juicy, 
