danger of passing the otter. The scent of an otter lies for a long time, though the duration naturally depends on the weather and on the land. Some of the younger hounds will often mark at an old nest, and the hounds generally will speak to the scent three or four days after the otter has gone by ; and in some places, where otters have habitually walked for long periods, the ground becomes so saturated that the hounds can own it six months afterwards.
The drag may continue for ten miles or more, and is either then run out, in which case it is known they have been hunting heel (though the older hounds generally have a preference for run- ning in the right direction at the start), or the hounds mark at some strong holt, and bay furiously, tearing at it with teeth and claws. The terrier is then put in and the otter bolted, when his ' chain ' may be viewed ; but in any case the hounds at once leave the holt. If during the hunt the otter shows rapidly, a number of times in succession, it means that it is taking in air, in order to take a long and desperate dive. It is not swimming all the time it is under water, but frequently walks along the bottom, especially in shallow places.
As this was news to me, I wrote to Mr. Uthwatt asking if this was beyond a doubt. He was unfortunately out of the reach of letters at the time (somewhere up country in South America), but Mrs. Uthwatt kindly wrote, saying she knew her husband was quite convinced this is the case, and that her brother-in-law, who has hunted the hounds for a great many years, is quite of the same opinion.
The otter is always some feet in front of its ' chain,' which is formed by its breath and the air contained in the fur. Sometimes when lost it betrays its whereabouts by taking in breath with a sort of gasping sigh, but it takes a keen ear to distinguish it.
On one occasion (in Warwickshire) the Bucks otter hounds ran a drag through eight fields of standing corn, from the river Itchin to the Learn. Even when shallows (of which there are however not many in Bucks) are lined two men deep, to keep the otter in a certain direction, it often breaks through.
Though the Bucks otters are not so quick and muscular as those of mountainous districts, not having swift streams to fight, yet they are not nearly so easy to kill, owing to the abundance of cover, the depth and muddiness of the streams, and the fact that the water carries no scent after it has been stirred up once or twice by the hounds.
An otter seems to know that he leaves a strong wash in the water, and often when being hunted goes down to rapid water, in order to lead the hounds from him, and then goes up stream and lies up.
Mr. Uthwatt has ' noticed that where a river has been diverted by a railway or for other reasons, the otters in their nocturnal travels show a preference for following the old course of the river, even when quite dry and is the furthest way.' A pack of otter hounds was formerly kept at Tyringham, and hunted by the late Rev. C. W. Selby Lowndes. A pack was also kept for a short time by Sir H. Hoare at Wavendon, about two years before the pack of which Mr. Uthwatt is the successful master was started in 1880. There was also a pack kept at Rowsham Park on the Cherwell (Oxford- shire) by an ancestor of the present owner of the property.
I have had on several occasions (successful) otter hunts about the lawn of my old home at Great Marlow after otters that had escaped from their cage, in one instance tailing it within two or three yards of the water's edge. One otter did escape, and subse- quently paid several visits to our lawn. On one occasion, after a fall of snow, I tracked her a long distance inland, nearly to her old cage. Over a year after she escaped she (presuming it was the same individual) put her foot into a rat trap, which did not hold her, but caused her to discontinue her visits. Undoubtedly wild otters occasionally visited our lawn, and three weeks after I caught the adult female mentioned as the largest female I have measured from the Thames an otter visited her cage during the night. On some few occasions besides that above mentioned I have either seen or heard otters in the river. The best view of one was obtained in one of the backwaters at Harleyford (Great Marlow), when a fisherman (long since dead) and I were proceeding in a boat perfectly noiselessly according to our custom, and an otter sud- denly rose to the surface of the water along- side the boat, and almost within reach of one of the sculls. Neither of us men moved a muscle, but remained as rigid as if suddenly turned to stone, and the otter floated along- side us staring in utter astonishment for some few minutes, until I suppose it had collected its wits, when it sank out of sight.
The most amusing animal I ever kept was a tame otter hand-reared in the house (this was the one I bred from). I have never ceased to regret I did not write down at the time the many proofs of her extraordinary sagacity, and the equally numerous instances of unmistakable humour ; but even as it is, many queer acts of hers, and of many of the other otters I have kept, might be added to this already overgrown section.
[The Pinnipeds (seals) and Cetaceans (whales and dolphins) are naturally, from
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