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Otter — Part 2
Images coming soon.
Presently the young one climbed on her shoulders again, whereupon she dived, and the next that I saw of them they were playing about in the shadow of an old bridge twenty rods further up stream.
The otter’s home is a den beneath the bank, usually with the entrance under water for safety. This is evidently not regarded as absolutely essential, however, for otter have been known to have their nests in caves, high up in the banks and at the bottom of hollow trees.
Last summer I found the home of a family of otters beside little muddy brook that is nowhere more than a few inches deep. Their main entrance appeared to be through a hollow log, the other end of which was buried in the swamp beneath a tangle of old tree trunks fallen and leaning at all angles and interlaced with a thick growth of smilax and nightshade.
It is quite possible that they had an underground passage leading to a somewhat larger brook a few rods away, though I saw no evidence of anything of the kind.
It was late in the season when I found the place and the young otters were well grown, and apparently spent most of their time away on long tramps and fishing excursions with their parents. From what I have seen of them I should say that otters pair for life and that the male does his part in taking care of his offspring.
The whole family keep together for the first year at least, probably until the young otters find their mates and set up housekeeping for themselves. They are generally gone two or three weeks on their fishing excursions, following the streams and sleeping in certain hiding-places that they know of beneath the steep banks. They will follow in Indian file up the course of little brooks until there is scarcely water enough to wet their feet, and then strike across lots through the dark woods by well-remembered paths that lead to the head-waters of some other stream. Down this they trace their way among twisted roots and alder stems, watching for trout as they go, until they reach the river and swim out into the deep water, looking beneath lily pads for pickerel that may be hiding there, then down along the muddy bottom edges for horned-pout and eels.
Horned-pout are favourite fish of theirs and are caught in large numbers in defiance of their ugly spines; in eating them the otters make an exception to their rule, and begin at the tail, leaving the head and armed neck on the bank.
Having reached the river the otters may go either up or down stream, as suits them best. Inland they know there are quiet ponds where they may catch perch and chub, and in the other direction are thatch-fringed “eel creeks” winding through salt meadows at certain season alive with herring and ale-wives.
They do not occupy the entire trip in fishing, however; here and there they land on grassy banks, or among the pines, and romp about like puppies, rolling over and over in the grass, and clawing up the turf and throwing it about. A favourite pastime of theirs appears to be the pulling at the opposite ends of a stick if to see which is the stronger. But they get the greatest fun from sliding; where the bank is sufficiently steep and slanting they make a roundabout path leading up to the top of the bank and from there they slide down the slippery surface into the water one after another like boys sliding down hill on the snow.
There is usually a playing ground at the head of each of their slides, where the turf is dug up and trampled and broken sticks scattered about.
In places where the water remains open in the winter the otters take advantage of the snow crust formed by the water dripping from their fur and freezing on the snow, and when traveling overland in snowy weather they always slide down any declivity they come to.
In the Northern States and Canada they pass most of the winter under the ice.