would oblige him to swim beneath the surface as long as he could hold his breath, and, on his rising to breathe, he would be met by a shower of spears, launched at him by the hunters on the bank. Thus attacked on every side, still his activity and resolution would, under ordinary circumstances, enable him to baffle for a long time the most vigilant pursuit of his enemies, and not unfrequently to

escape. But, at length, the poor animal perished, as too often happened, wounded and oppressed by numbers, yet fighting to the last.

The otter is found still on the wild shores of the western islands of Scotland; and it has long been a favourite sport among the Highlanders to hunt it with dogs of the terrier breed. Parties will sally out with torches at night-time, when the otter leaves his hole to seek for food. During the day he conceals himself under the large, bare stones, or fragments of rock, close to the margin of the sea, forming what is called a "cairn." It is a difficult matter to force him from this retreat.

A visitor to one of the Hebrides, a few years ago, accompanied a party of gentlemen, attended by gamekeepers, for the purpose of witnessing this sport. It was a fine morning in September. Landing on one of the islands from a boat, the terriers were loosened from the couples, and left to their own instinct to find the otter's den. After scrambling a considerable distance over masses of rock and loose pebbles, on a remarkably wild and beautiful shore, the dogs, by their eagerness of manner and incessant barking, convinced the party that the game was within scent.

The gentlemen, with guns cocked, then arranged themselves in convenient situations for intercepting the passage of the otter, should he attempt to take refuge in the sea; some mounted on the tops of rocks, others stood near the water, or in the boat which had accompanied the party from the landing-place. The keepers, in the meantime, now assisted the dogs in their efforts to discover the lurking-places of their prey. One of them, a thick-set Highlander, displayed a very characteristic enthusiasm. Addressing the dogs in Gaelic, he set to work with all the ardour of the terriers themselves, tearing away large stones from the mouth of the hole, and half burying himself to enable the dogs to come at their object; while they, in the meantime, ran about yelping in the greatest excitement, and scratching at every aperture between the stones.

Whilst this was going on at one hole, a large otter poked his head out of another, and looked about with as much astonishment as his countenance was capable of expressing, until, catching a glimpse of one of his enemies, he instantly disappeared. This incident having been observed, the attention of the party was transferred to the retreat thus betrayed. A large stone was first uplifted, and hurled upon the top of the pile, with the intention either of forcing the inmate out by the 71

VOL. II.

shock, or of breaking some of the stones. Then a pole was thrust into the crevice, which was enlarged, so as to admit a dog. One of the canine besiegers immediately rushed in, and, after a few seconds spent in grappling with his antagonist, an otter was dragged forth, at whom the whole body of dogs ran a-tilt.

poor otter

His defence was most heroic, many of his assailants giving proof of the power of his bite. The battle was continued for several minutes; dogs and otter, involved in one compact group, rolled down a precipitous ledge of crags, and at the bottom of it, the power of numbers prevailing, the "died," as it was said, "very hard." Two more otters were taken directly after at the same cairn; one was shot as he made towards the water, the other was dragged by the tail by one of the men from his hole, and bagged alive.

In our day, otter-hunting is far less commonly practised than it used to be, as the animal is more scarce, as well as more limited in its localities; it is not, however, by any means forgotten. But traps, nooses, &c., are now usually employed in order to rid the pond or river of so destructive a guest. So far from being confined to the fresh waters, the common otters are known to frequent the sea in the north of Scotland, and to hunt far out. In Cornwall, the otter will go a mile from the shore in the summer and good weather after its prey. On the sea-shore, rocky coves, with scattered blocks, hollows, and cavities under large stones, are its haunts.

In the Prædium Rusticum of Vanière mention is made of tame otters being employed in fishing, which may be thus translated :

in a passage
"Should chance within this dark recess betray
The tender young, bear quick the prize away.
Tamed by thy care, the useful brood shall join

The watery chase, and add their toils to thine;

From each close-lurking hole shall force away,

And drive within their nets the silver prey;

As the taught hound the timid stag subdues,
And o'er the dewy plain the panting hare pursues."

Every angler, too, will remember the passage in Walton, where good Mr. Piscator is anxious to possess himself of one of the young otters which the huntsman, after the death of the "bitch otter," had found:-"Look you," says the huntsman, "thereabout it was she kennelled; look you, here it was, indeed, for here's her young ones-no less than five. Come, let's kill them all." "No," exclaims Piscator; "I pray, sir, save me one, and I'll try if I can make her tame, as I know an ingenious gentleman in Leicestershire, Mr. Nich. Seagrave, has done, who hath not only made her tame, but to catch fish, and do many other things of much pleasure."

At Pondicherry, Bishop Heber passed a row of nine or ten very large and beautiful otters,* tethered with straw collars and long strings to bamboo stakes, on the banks of the Matta Colly. Some were swimming about at the full extent of their strings, or lying half in and half out of the water; others were rolling themselves in the sun on the sandy bank, uttering a shrill, whistling noise, as if in play. The bishop was told that most of the fishermen in the neighbourhood kept one or more of these animals, who were almost as tame as dogs, and of great use in fishing, sometimes driving the shoals into the nets, sometimes bringing out the larger fish with their teeth.

James Campbell, near Inverness, procured a young otter, which he brought up and tamed. It would follow him wherever he chose; and, if called on by its name, would immediately obey. When apprehensive of danger from dogs, it sought the protection of its master, and would endeavour to spring into his arms for greater security. It was frequently employed in catching fish, and would sometimes take eight or ten salmon in a day. If not prevented, it always made an attempt to break the fish behind the anal fin, which is next the tail; and, as soon as one was taken away, it always dived in pursuit of more. It was equally dexterous at sea-fishing, and took great numbers of young cod and other fish there. When tired, it would refuse to fish any longer, and was then rewarded with as much as it could devour. Having satisfied its appetite, it always coiled itself round, and fell asleep, in which state it was generally carried home.

A domesticated otter, belonging to a poor widow, when led forth, plunged into the Urr, or the neighbouring burns, and brought out all the fish it could find. Another, belonging to Mr. Monteith, of Carstairs, was also very tame, and though he often stole away at night to fish by the pale light of the moon, and associate with his kindred by the river side, his master, of course, was too generous

L. Nair. The Nir-nayie of the people.-The Juhl Marjur, or Water Cat, of the MaLrattas.

to

find any fault with his mode of spending his evening hours. In the morning, he was always at his post in the kennel, and no animal understood better the secret of keeping his own side of the house. Indeed, his pugnacity in this respect gave him a great lift in the favour of the gamekeeper, who talked of his feats wherever he went, and avowed, besides, that if the best cur that ever ran "only dared to girn" at his protegé, he would soon "mak' his teeth meet through him." To mankind, however, he was much more civil, and allowed himself to be gently lifted by the tail, though he objected to any interference with his snout, which was probably with him the seat of honour.

A person who kept a tame otter taught it to associate with his dogs, who were upon the most friendly terms with it on all occasions, and it would follow him in different excursions, in company with his canine attendants. He was in the practice of fishing rivers with nets; on which occasions the otter proved highly useful to him, by going into the water, and driving trout and other fish towards the net. It was very remarkable that dogs accustomed to otter hunting were so far from offering it the least molestation, that they would not even hunt any other otter while it remained with them; on which account, the owner was under the necessity of parting with it.

A man, named Collins, who resided near Wooler, in Northumberland, had a tame otter, which followed him wherever he went. He frequently took it to fish in the river for its own food, and, when satiated, it never failed to return to its master. One day, in his absence, the otter, being taken out to fish by his son, refused to return at the accustomed call, and was lost. Collins, after several days' search in vain, being near the place where his son had lost it, and calling it by its name, found, to his great joy, the otter creeping to his feet, with every mark of its strong attachment. An otter kept at Corsbie House, Wigtonshire, evinced a great fondness for gooseberries, fondled about its keeper's feet like a pup or a kitten, and even seemed inclined to salute her cheek, when permitted to carry its

freedom so far.

The Roman Catholic Church still permits the otter to be eaten on maigre days. Pennant saw one in the kitchen of the Carthusians, near Dijon, under preparation for the dinner of that rigid order, who are prohibited from eating flesh during their whole lives. Mr. Macgillivray states that he knew a

nean in Harris who procured a considerable number every year, when the skins were in more request than now, and who generally cooked the flesh, of which the naturalist once partook with the family. It was," he says, "dark-coloured, rank, and sapid enough, but not agreeably so; and under the skin was a layer of fat, as in the seal, which might render it pleasant food to a Greenlander or starving Hebridean."

THE CAPE OTTER.*

THIS animal has the fur soft, full, and thick, chestnut-brown, deepest on the rump, limbs, and tail, brighter on the sides, and brownish-gray upon the head; the under part of the body white. The length, two feet ten inches from the muzzle to the tail, which is one foot eight inches.

THE CANADA OTTER.t

THE length of this creature, from the nose to the tip of the tail, which is eighteen inches, is about four feet. It has the fur above and below of shining brown, and much resembling that of the beaver. In its habits and food it resembles the European species. In the winter season it frequents rapids and falls for the advantage of open water; and, when its usual haunts are frozen over, it will travel to a great distance through the snow in search of a rapid that has resisted the frost. When seen and pursued by the hunters-as it is on these journeys-it throws itself forward on its belly and slides through the snow for several yards, leaving a deep furrow behind it. This movement is described as being repeated with so much rapidity, that even a swift runner in snow-shoes has great difficulty in overtaking it. It also doubles on its track with much cunning, and dives under the snow to elude its pursuers. When closely pressed, it will turn and defend itself obstinately. When Sir John Richardson and his party were at Great Bear Lake, these otters robbed their nets, which had been set under the ice a few yards from a piece of open water. They generally carried off the heads of the fish, leaving the bodies sticking in the net.

The Mackenzie and other The fur varies with the season. is not so well adapted for felt.

rivers near to the Arctic Sea are the common residence of this otter. It is nearly as fine as beaver-wool, but not so long, and consequently Sir John Richardson says, that seven thousand or eight thousand skins

are annually exported to England.

Other species of otters are mentioned, inhabiting different parts of the globe; on these, however, we cannot expatiate, but must now conclude our account of the FLESH-EATING ANIMALS.

WE pass now from the Carnivora to a group of animals-the Dickhäuter of the Germans, the Pachydermes of the French-interesting from their peculiarities, and some from being remnants of a very extensive tribe, which formerly inhabited the earth, but have now almost entirely disappeared. They feed on grass, but do not ruminate, nor are they cloven-footed. They are, for the most part, huge, unwieldy animals, with thick integuments, rendered tough by a large mass of condensed cellular substance. The order includes animals of the most varied appearance and different habits. The chief of them are the Elephant, the Rhinoceros, the Tapir, the Hog, the Horse, and the Hippopotamus.

The first family of Pachydermes consists of those which have a proboscis and tusks, and which are named Proboscideans. To this division belongs the extinct genus, Mastodon, in which the crowns of the molars have nipple-shaped tubercles placed in pairs. The animals lived in the tertiary and diluvial periods.

THE MAMMOTH, OR ELEPHANT OF THE LENA.

THE Tungusians, who are a wandering people of Northern Europe, remain but a little time in the same place. Those who live in the forests often take ten years or more to travel over the vast regions between the mountains; nor, during this time, do they once return to their habitations. In one of his annual trips, Schumachoff, a hunter, who was also a collector of fossil ivory, observed among the iceblocks at the mouth of the river Lena a huge, indefinite mass, but could not ascertain what it was. In a subsequent visit he beheld the entire side of a gigantic animal, and an enormous tusk, quite free from the ice.

On his return to the borders of the lake Oncoul, he communicated this extraordinary discovery to his wife and some of his friends, but was grieved by the way in which they considered the matter. The old men related their having heard their fathers say, that a similar monster had been formerly

Pachydermata. Taxus, thick; depua, skin.