THE OTTER'S HAUNTS AND HABITS
As mentioned in the previous chapter, otter cubs may be born in any month
of the year. Prior to laying down her young, the bitch otter selects a
couch in the vicinity of good feeding ground. Her choice of a retreat
will vary with the locality in which she happens to be at the time. In
the low country her cubs may be laid down in a dry drain in the meadows,
where frogs are plentiful, and the ditches contain a supply of eels, or
amongst the brushwood in some large covert, where the ground is swampy,
and through which one or two small runners meander on their way to
join the parent stream. In the north, where the rivers are swift and
rocky, the cubs may first see the light of day in some cairn or pile of
boulders, situated high up near the source of the stream, or in some
rocky earth adjacent to a mountain tarn. On the grouse moor they may
be found in some sod drain or other hiding-place amongst the peat and
heather, near a pool or pools containing fish, and frequented by wildfowl
as well as frogs and such small deer.
Quite small cubs are often found in holts in the bank of a main river,
but it is pretty safe to say that the majority of bitch otters move
up-stream, either to the head-waters, or up some side-runner prior
to laying down their cubs. The latter have on various occasions been
discovered actually beneath, or in close proximity to human habitations.
In the _Field_ of October 29th, 1921, there is an interesting description
of such an occurrence, which we take the liberty of quoting. It says:
"An odd experience is recorded to have happened in the year 1790 to
Mr William Bethel, the then owner of Watton, and a guest. He and a
clergyman were sitting quietly at dinner, when they were surprised by an
extraordinary noise beneath the dining-table for which they could not
account, and at length they were so much annoyed by it that they sent
for a workman to take up the floor, when to their great astonishment they
found that an otter which had inhabited the moat had established her nest
beneath the boards of the floor, and had there deposited her litter of
young ones, by whose uncouth cries it was that the dinner-party had been
disturbed."
In _The Gamekeeper_ for May, 1914, there is another interesting account
of a somewhat similar nature. It says: "On March 13th last, Mr Colwill,
a tenant on the Trebartha Estate, Cornwall, lost a lamb, and there being
a mouth of a large drain in the field, thought perhaps there might be
a chance of the lamb having gone up the drain. Getting a long stick he
put it up the drain, and feeling something move he thought it must be
the lamb, but on turning round, saw the lamb coming up the field towards
him. The same evening he put some lambs in the shippen in front of some
cows, putting them on some hay. Before going to bed he went to see
that the lambs were all right. He was just hanging up his lamp, when
something--he could not see what--rushed out past him. When he went to
look at his lamb, he found a young otter lying with the lamb."
The account goes on to say that on the particular night in question, the
local rivers were in flood. The above seems to point to the fact that the
bitch otter had been flooded out of the drain, and had carried her cub to
the shelter of the shippen. A photograph of the lamb and the otter cub
was reproduced in conjunction with the above letterpress.
Otter cubs, like young foxes, are born blind. Fox cubs remain so for a
period of about three weeks, and it is probable that a similar length
of time, or perhaps rather more, elapses ere young otters can see. In
the _Field_ of November 26th, 1921, there is an account of an otter cub
whose mother was inadvertently killed by hounds. This cub was rescued and
brought up by hand. When taken from the holt its age was estimated at
fourteen days. Sixteen days later the cub opened its eyes, thus a period
of thirty days elapsed from the time of its birth until it could see. At
the end of the thirty days the cub weighed 14 ounces. It was at first fed
on milk and water, but became very thin on this diet, so a change was
made to "Mellins" as mixed for a new-born child. On this the cub thrived,
its weight on October 11th being just under 2 lb. It was taken from the
holt on August 20th. Had this cub been fed in the ordinary way by its
mother it would possibly have opened its eyes at a rather earlier date,
as it would have escaped the set-back caused by an unsuitable diet. The
eyes of the adult otter are very dark coloured, but those of a cub are at
first much lighter, not unlike the eyes of a young fox cub.
When the cubs are able to travel, the bitch otter leads them down from
the head-waters to the larger streams. The cubs remain with their mother
for some considerable time, as witness the constant occurrence of cubs
of from 10 lb. to 12 lb. being put down in company with the bitch. They
consort with their mother until she goes off to rear another family,
when they are then left to fend for themselves. From this it is apparent
that the otter has but one litter per year.
There is a great deal yet to be learnt about the otter, for, being
more or less a creature of the night, and elusive in its movements, it
is extremely difficult to study systematically. Otter cubs, although
somewhat delicate, are not difficult to hand-rear, and make very
interesting and tractable pets. If healthy to start with, cows' milk
diluted with water is at first a satisfactory diet. Both cubs and adult
otters are of course easy enough to study in captivity, but like many
other creatures confined under similar conditions, they soon exhibit
certain abnormal tastes and habits, and therefore afford little or no
real clue to their behaviour in their natural habitat. At the Zoological
Gardens in London, the otters will eat almost anything thrown to them by
visitors.
The bitch otter shows great affection for her young, and will hang about
in their vicinity in the face of hounds or human intruders. If a bitch
with cubs is killed, the cubs, if well grown, will search the vicinity
for their parent, the same applying to one of a pair which has been
caught in a trap, its mate remaining near it all night in an attempt to
get it away. On these occasions the otters make a considerable noise,
blowing and snorting in their agitation. On one occasion some years ago,
a brother of ours found three small otter cubs on a Yorkshire beck, which
he eventually captured. The bitch otter remained close at hand, making a
great fuss, regardless of any possible danger to herself. The cubs were
carried home, a distance of a mile or more, but were returned within a
short time to the pool where they were found. The bitch otter again made
her appearance, and eventually went off with her restored family.
Otters, being great nomads, wander long distances up and down our rivers,
frequently crossing high watersheds, and travelling far across country.
Having no fixed abode like the fox, the otter inhabits temporary retreats
or holts during the course of his journeyings. Most of these holts have
been used by generations of otters, and many a drain or other shelter
long forgotten by the people of the neighbourhood is still regularly
inhabited by _Lutra_ and his kind. A holt may consist of a tree-root on
the river-bank, a dry drain, or a wet one containing a dry lying place, a
stick-heap near the stream, or situated in a plantation at some distance
from the water. On the rocky rivers of the North, many of the holts
consist of piled-up boulders on the hill-side, most of which are at some
distance from the nearest beck or tarn. These rock-holts, many of which
lie at a high altitude, are occupied by otters when crossing from stream
to stream over a watershed. In summer, otters frequently "lie rough," or
in other words spend the day above ground. Near a lake or tarn an otter
will often curl up in the rushes or long grass at the water's edge. If
disturbed he will then slide quietly into the pool, and unless hunted
by hounds, will not show himself again. Sometimes he will lie on a bank
or in a hedge close to the mouth of a drain, the latter serving him as
a safe retreat when danger threatens. In fact, during the warm weather,
otters are found lying rough in all sorts of unexpected places, often to
the great surprise of those who fondly imagine that the animals never
leave the vicinity of water.
Certain tree-roots and also rock-holts have their entrances under water.
In some of them there cannot be any great amount of ventilation. An
otter cannot live without air, yet presumably it can exist with less
than most creatures. Otter cubs are sometimes laid down in holts of the
above nature, where there is no ventilation shaft, and we have heard the
theory expressed that under such conditions practically all the fresh
air that the cubs get is carried in to them in their mother's coat. In
our experience, however, even though a holt has an underwater entrance,
there are usually plenty of air passages coming down from above, at any
rate, sufficient to supply a more than adequate amount of fresh air for
breathing purposes. The advantage of an underwater entrance to an otter
lies in the fact that he can get in and out without showing himself, and
once inside he may be "out of mark," or in other words, his scent is not
carried to the outer air, so that if hounds come along they cannot wind
him in his retreat.
After his night's peregrinations, an otter will return to his holt, but
prior to settling down in his chosen retreat, he often visits one or
two other tree-roots on the river-bank. Hounds sometimes mark at these
places, only to find that their otter has gone on.
Along the sea coast, otters inhabit the water-worn caves and other
retreats about the cliffs. Wherever there is an open boathouse on lake
or river, otters are pretty sure to resort to it. We have examined many
such places, and almost invariably found otter coke lying about on the
planking, and sometimes actually in a boat or boats. In bad weather a
boathouse affords a dry lying spot, and no doubt this is why otters visit
it.
In order to thoroughly realise the wanderings and often long
cross-country journeys undertaken by otters, one must track them in the
snow. On one occasion such a trail led us for a good ten miles overland,
the otter having left a stream, and made his way uphill via a small
runner. The latter petered out in the open ground, but the trail led on
in the direction of a frozen reservoir. Round this the otter had gone,
then he followed the stream from the outlet for some distance, after
which he turned straight across country. Three or four big stone walls
had then intervened, but the otter--which had probably been over the same
route before--made straight to certain smoots, and passed through with no
unnecessary searching for a way out. He then visited a small lake, also
frozen, and again took to the outlet stream, down which he went until he
arrived at the main river. It must have been a pretty hard trip for so
short-legged an animal, for the otter left a furrow in the snow which
was quite deep. From the point where he left the stream where we picked
up his tracks, to the spot where the trail entered the main river in
the next dale across the watershed, the otter had not stopped once, but
had kept toddling on. In the Lake District, otters regularly travel the
passes over the hills, visiting the mountain tarns, and going from one
dale to another.
[Illustration: Tunnel Made by Otter in Snow.
(_Photo by R. Clapham_).
]
[Illustration: Otter Tracks in Snow, Jumping.
(_Photo by R. Clapham_). _To face p. 53._
]
Otters are playful beasts, a favourite game of theirs being sliding. They
choose a steep clay bank, or a smooth snow slope, and toboggan down it
on their stomachs with evident enjoyment. Although one seldom sees these
slides in this country, they are very common in Canada where we have
often come across them. During the cold weather of a Canadian winter,
otters spend a good deal of their time beneath the ice, being able to
breathe at the air-spaces round the shore. These air-spaces are left when
the water lowers after the ice is formed.
Concerning the otter's feeding habits, there appears to be a good deal
of misconception. Some people imagine that the otter exists entirely on
fish, and for this reason should be done to death as a river-poacher
at every opportunity. We have in the previous chapter compared the
teeth of the otter and the seal, the latter animal swallowing its food
whole, while the former masticates its food. Seals live upon fish, but
it must be remembered that the otter belongs to the marten family, and,
though well adapted to lead an aquatic existence, it still retains some
of the marten's hunting instincts, and its teeth are suited to seizing
and holding both furred and feathered prey. The pine marten, stoat, and
weasel will all eat trout greedily when they can get it, so it is only
natural that the otter, their relation, well equipped for swimming and
water work, should show the same taste. As a matter of fact he _does_
exhibit the same taste as his smaller relatives, and to a much greater
degree, but he is also glad to vary his diet and add both flesh and fowl
to the menu.
The uninitiated, whose knowledge of otters has been gained by visits
to the Zoological Gardens, while realising the swimming ability of the
animals, look upon them as clumsy beasts on land, and ill-adapted to lead
an active existence on terra firma. In an article comparing the badger
and the otter, it says, "The otter, on the other hand, though an expert
swimmer, is on land nearly as clumsy as his cousin the badger." The
author of the said article can have done little or no otter-hunting, for
if he had, he would never have made such a foolish statement. Despite his
webbed feet, the otter is built like the weasels, and exhibits a great
deal of their activity and quickness on land. For this reason he is well
able to cope with furred and feathered quarry.
Beginning the otter's menu with fish, we find he eats salmon, sea trout,
trout, and coarse fish. On the west of Scotland and in the Hebrides,
otters live a good deal on the coast, but in the autumn they follow the
salmon up the streams. Where salmon are plentiful and easily secured,
otters kill a fish, take it ashore, and eat a portion of the shoulder
only. In the old days in the Highlands, when otters were more numerous
than they are at present, the crofters used regularly to visit the
otters' landing places, in order to gather the salmon left there. The
marks on such fish were known as the "otter's bite." In that delightful
book, "Wild Sports of the Highlands" by Charles St John, the author
refers to the above practice as follows: "I was rather amused at an old
woman living at Sluie, on the Findhorn, who, complaining of the hardness
of the present times, when 'a puir body couldna' get a drop smuggled
whisky, or shot a rae without his lordship's sportsman finding it out,'
added to her list of grievances that even the otters were nearly all
gone, 'puir beasties.' 'Well, but what good could the otters do you?' I
asked her. 'Good, your honour? Why scarcely a morn came but they left a
bonny grilse on the scarp down yonder, and the _vennison_ was none the
waur of the bit, the puir beasts eat themselves.' The people here call
every eatable animal, fish, flesh, or fowl, venison, or as they pronounce
it 'vennison.' For instance they tell you that the snipes are 'good
vennison,' or that the trout are not good 'vennison' in the winter."
Although an otter is a capable swimmer, he cannot travel half as fast
as a salmon under water. In low water a single otter can tire out or
corner a salmon in a pool, but evidence leads us to believe that otters
often work together, one driving the salmon about, while the other
keeps watch on the shallows. On all rivers there are places where fish
can be more or less cornered when the water is at normal level, and of
course when it is very low in time of drought, salmon and other fish
are practically pool-bound, and thus fall victims to otters and other
predaceous creatures. It is pretty safe to say that an otter--like a
pike, or a cannibal trout--will go for any fish which appears to be weak
or in difficulty. A spinning lure--such as a spoon that wobbles instead
of turning truly--is often far more attractive than one that spins "like
a streak of silver."
In the _Field_ of June 5th, 1920, there is an account of an otter
attacking a hooked salmon. The writer of the account says, "While I was
playing a salmon on the Teify on Friday, May 21st, an otter made two
attempts to get at him, and very nearly succeeded once. This seems
so unusual to me that it would be of great interest if others have
had a similar experience. This incident took place about eight in the
evening, and in a pool where there was only an opening of a few feet
where one could gaff the fish owing to trees. The trees undoubtedly
accounted for the otter failing to see me, but as soon as he raised
his head above water in midstream and saw that there were others as
well as himself after that fish he soon cleared off, and the fish was
successfully landed. The wild rushes made by the salmon after the otter's
first attempt were extraordinary, as the fish was about done and fit
for gaffing. To me this was a clear proof of the instinctive fear and
wonderful vitality in a fish when his natural enemy appeared."
Other instances of a similar nature have been recorded from time to time,
in some of which the otter has succeeded in taking the hooked fish. There
is no doubt that an otter or otters frighten fish, particularly salmon,
when chasing them about a pool. The instinct of all wild animals is to
attack a weakly or wounded creature, even if belonging to their own kind,
and the otter which goes for a hooked salmon does so because he knows he
stands a better chance of catching it than other fish in the same pool
which are free and untrammelled.
The otter must, therefore, do considerable good by ridding the streams of
weak and sickly fish. An otter deals with large sea trout as it does with
salmon, but in the case of trout it frequently eats them entire, leaving
nothing to waste. When devouring fish an otter eats like a cat, with
half-closed eyes. In the case of coarse fish, the otter often discards
the head and tail, and in the same way with an eel, the head may be
left. Those who decry the otter as a fish-poacher should remember that
the animal does not confine his attentions solely to one pool or to one
species of diet during his nightly wanderings. He may fish and otherwise
feed up-stream for some miles, taking a trout here, an eel there, and
perhaps a young rabbit somewhere else.
We have already seen that the otter must do good by killing sickly or
wounded salmon, and in the same way with trout, he captures many an old
cannibal fish which is far better out of the water. These old trout not
only prey on their own smaller relations, but are great devourers of fish
spawn, and the same applies, only in a much greater degree, to eels,
which are the worst vermin in or about a river or lake. Many coarse fish,
too, are inimical to spawn and young fry, therefore the otter does far
more good than harm by feeding on them. Eels and frogs, the latter being
skinned by an otter, are the first quarry that the bitch otter teaches
her cubs to hunt. These are sought for on land and in the wet ditches and
shallow runners. Later, the cubs are initiated in the art of fishing.
When first introduced to water, the cubs show considerable reluctance to
swim. This can hardly be because they are unable to do so, but rather
owing to a youthful aversion--as in the case of a puppy--to entering a
strange element for the first time. The bitch therefore takes them to
a stone in midstream, and either pushes them in, or leaves them there
until they are at last tempted to enter the water and follow her. On
the sea coast otters spend a good deal of time searching for flounders
in the shallow pools. They also eat crabs, lobsters, sea anemones, and
various crustaceans. Otters sometimes visit the lobster fishers' creels,
and there are instances on record of partially grown otters having been
found drowned in the creels. On inland lakes and streams otters feed on
fresh-water mussels and cray-fish.
As previously mentioned, it is no uncommon thing to find the remains of
fur and feather in otter coke. Otters capture waterhens and dabchicks,
although we are of the opinion that they prefer other food if they can
get it. At any rate we are familiar with a certain reed-fringed pond
on the hills, where a bitch otter and two cubs of about 12 lb. weight
resided for some months. This pond was also occupied by quite a number of
waterhens, yet there were no apparent remains of these birds to be found
in the vicinity, which pointed to the fact that the otters left them
pretty much alone.
A rather curious thing happened when we visited the pond with hounds.
At first the waterhens were much in evidence, but after hounds had
been at work for an hour or two, we began to find dead waterhens
lying about. These were not killed by hounds, but were drowned, and
had practically--as far as we could see--committed suicide. To escape
danger a waterhen will keep diving, and the birds under discussion had
evidently--owing to the continual presence of hounds--done so until they
were tired out, and subsequently perished under water. What made their
behaviour stranger still was the fact that there was a small covert
adjoining the pond, in which the birds could have found sanctuary on
terra firma until all danger was past.
Both dabchicks and waterhens devour fish spawn, so otters do good
by thinning out the ranks of these birds. At times otters will take
game-birds, and there are authentic records of grouse, pheasants, and
duck having been killed by them. One or two instances of this will
suffice. In "The Natural History of Sport in Scotland," by Tom Speedy,
the latter says: "That he can scent and pounce upon his prey like a fox
was demonstrated by following his tracks among snow up Corrie Macshee
Burn at Dalnaspidal. The trail left the water-side and showed where the
animal had made a bound and caught a grouse in its roosting-place among
the snow. Returning to the stream, he had crossed on to a boulder in the
centre of the burn, where he devoured part of his prey." The same author
mentions a case of an otter on the Biel estate in East Lothian, which
dragged a foster-mother hen out of a coop and partly devoured it, as well
as a number of young pheasants big enough to sit out amongst the grass.
Traps were set, baited with the dead bodies of the birds, and a large
otter was secured; the massacre then ceased.
In _The Gamekeeper_ for August, 1913, there is a note concerning the
deaths of fifteen sitting pheasants in a covert beside a river. Each
bird had a hole gnawed down through the back, the carcasses being left
lying near the nests, not an egg having been touched. A duck caught on
her nest is treated in the same way by an otter. In _The Gamekeeper_ for
June, 1919, there is a note concerning an otter which was caught in a
tunnel-trap baited with rabbit paunch. The trap was set in the middle of
a one hundred acre wood. The otter was a cub, weighing 9½ lb.
Waterhens and dabchicks, particularly the latter, when taken by otters,
are pulled under the water, though they may be captured amongst the reeds
and other undergrowth as well. Ducklings sometimes fall victims to the
otter, though as a rule big pike do the greatest harm in this direction.
Pike have been known to take pheasants as well as duck which had fallen
into a lake during the course of a shoot. From available evidence, otters
on a stream containing trout and coarse fish seem to prefer the latter.
Possibly they are easier to capture than trout. On hill-streams, where
the fish are small but very numerous owing to shortage of food, otters
must do a great deal of good by reducing the stock.
As far as furred prey is concerned, otters will kill and eat rats,
water-voles, and young rabbits. We have on several occasions seen
where a small bunny had been caught by an otter. On marshes where duck
shooting is carried on, otters find and feed on wounded duck, exactly as
do foxes. Here again they do good by acting as scavengers, as well as
by putting winged birds out of their misery. Rabbits appear to be the
largest four-footed creatures preyed upon by otters, but we have heard
it suggested by an old Lakeland dalesman that they will on occasion take
lambs. Although we bring forward this suggestion with great diffidence,
it is quite possible that there is some truth in it. Our informant
lived by the shore of a lake in an out-of-the-way part of the country,
where at one time pine-martens were very plentiful. It is a well-known
fact that martens will kill lambs, and an otter, which is a much more
powerful animal, could easily do the same if so inclined. Anyway, the
old dalesman more than once found the carcass of a lamb left close to
the edge of the water on the lake shore, with the tracks of otters round
about it. Neither a hill-fox nor marten would be likely to drag or carry
the carcass to water, and the whole thing certainly pointed to the work
of otters.
An otter is a predaceous animal of the weasel family, strong, and active
in its habits, and would experience no difficulty in tackling a lamb. It
is never safe to be dogmatic in one's statements concerning the habits
of wild creatures, because generally speaking, the only regular thing
about them is their variability. Cases have occurred where otters were
responsible for killing ducks, grouse, pheasants, and rabbits, and though
such behaviour is only occasional on the part of the average otter, it
shows what he will do when so inclined.
In winter otters are sometimes hard put to it to find food, and they
have been known to take poultry at such times. In the same way regarding
the dalesman's statement about lambs, an otter _may_ occasionally kill
one, although most people would laugh at such an idea. We know that
hill-foxes take lambs, having scores of times found carcasses in and
about the earths, yet one meets hunting people who resolutely refuse to
believe that Reynard ever falls so far from grace as to feed on lamb. A
fox will eat trout when he can get it, and so will many dogs. We have
one now which eats small trout as greedily as a cat, and no doubt foxes
secure many fish when the hill-streams are dead low in summer. It is no
more strange for a fox or a dog to eat fish than for an otter to take an
occasional lamb. All three are carnivorous--the otter being least so--and
when all is said and done, wild animals show very unusual traits at times.
Summing up the otter's feeding habits, we find he kills fish, and in the
case of salmon he is certainly wasteful. To set against this he takes
many a sickly fish, as well as cannibal trout, all of which are better
out of the way. He kills waterhens and dabchicks, both devourers of fish
spawn, and he slays quantities of eels, which are the worst vermin to be
found in lake or stream. Game is only an occasional item on his menu, and
nobody grudges him a few young rabbits.
Otters, therefore, if kept within reasonable limits, do their share of
good, and, like the fox, provide the very best of sport when hunted.
When Reynard is rolled over by hounds it is the debt he pays for the
privileged existence of himself and his kind, and the same thing applies
to the otter. Given a good pack of hounds, hunting their district
properly, otters will be kept sufficiently in check, and good sport will
be enjoyed by riparian owners and others.
The only occasion on which an otter can do really extensive damage is
when he gets access to a trout hatchery. Once he finds his way to the
breeding ponds he will kill fish right and left. If, however, such places
are properly fenced off--as they should be--they will never suffer from
the attentions of otters. Swans and other wildfowl, herons, dabchicks,
waterhens, kingfishers, frogs, cannibal trout, and eels do far more
damage to fish and fish spawn than otters, and with the exception of
certain wildfowl, provide no sport in return. The otter, like the
fly-fisherman, is a sportsman, and for this reason the one should deal
leniently with the other.
Otters do most of their feeding and travelling at night, but it is not
an uncommon occurrence to find them abroad in daytime. In Canada we have
on several occasions seen them on the ice during the day, and once while
watching a deer runway near a river, a big otter floated downstream
within twenty yards of us. Having fed up-stream during the night, an
otter may take to some holt at the end of his journey, or he may float
down with the current--if the water is fairly deep--and return to the
holt from which he started. Although an otter can make wonderful headway
against a strong current, he generally avoids rapids and rough water
when travelling up-stream. On coming to such a place he lands, makes a
detour, and enters the water again higher up. His feeding expeditions
are not necessarily restricted to the main river, for he often explores
side-streams, ditches, and other places, which lie at a considerable
distance from deep water. He usually leaves his holt--or couch if he is
lying rough--about dusk, and returns to it before daybreak. For the most
part otters are silent creatures, but they whistle when calling to each
other, and will snort and blow when playing together. In Canada their
playgrounds are the "slides," and there two otters will gambol like
puppies between the intervals of tobogganing down the bank.
Although an otter does not dig to any extent, he will, as already
mentioned, scratch up sand or soft earth for a certain purpose, and his
feet and claws aid him in securing crustaceans and other food. Although
the otter is unable to climb like the marten, he can on occasion jump and
scramble over high places in a wonderful manner. In the North, otters
regularly travel deep ghylls and watercourses where they are obliged to
climb to some extent, and when hard pressed by hounds it takes a very
rough place indeed to stop an otter. In big coverts an otter will stand
up before hounds like a fox, and will travel at a surprising pace.
On rough, rocky rivers, an otter's claws, particularly those on the hind
feet, are often very much worn down. This may be accounted for by the
state of the going. A mounted specimen now in our possession has the
claws of the hind feet practically worn off, whereas the nails on the
forefeet are nearly perfect.
There are probably few waters in Great Britain which are not at some time
or other haunted by otters. Even in the vicinity of towns the marks of
otters may be found beside canals and streams, the surroundings of which
would appear to be anything but attractive to _Lutra_. Being chiefly a
creature of the night, nomadic and elusive in its habits, the otter often
spends a peaceful existence in the vicinity of human habitations, the
occupants of which never dream that the "sly, goose-footed prowler" is
a frequent visitor to their water. The majority of people have never
seen an otter, except under a glass case in some museum, or within the
confines of the Zoological Gardens. The angler, fishing at dusk, may
sometimes be favoured by a glimpse of an otter, bent on the same errand
as himself, but as a rule few otters are seen except when put down by
hounds.