[Footnote 1: The author of "Master of Game" does not say anything more about the otter.]
"Of the remnant of his nature I refer to Milbourne[2] the king's otter-hunter."
[Footnote 2: The Milbourne referred to by the Duke of York can scarcely be any other than the William Melbourne we find mentioned in Henry IV's reign as "Valet of our Otterhounds" (note in appendix to "Master of Game").]
If otters "bear their whelps as long as the ferrets," the period of gestation is six weeks or forty-five days. Bitch ferrets come in heat in April or May, and unless mated some of them apparently remain more or less in that condition during the summer months.
The excrement of the otter, known in hunting parlance as "spraints," "wedging," or "coke," is usually of a blackish colour, and contains the bones and scales of fish. Sometimes it shows the remains of fur or feather, which is proof positive that the otter does not live entirely upon a fish diet.
Where an otter has been feeding on frogs, the coke is usually a yellowish colour. In sand or soft earth an otter will scrape the latter into a small mound, like a cat, and for the same purpose.
Coke is generally found on stones in midstream, or at points where the otter enters or leaves the water. A small grassy promontory is a favourite place, and at such spots the grass often grows particularly green. If the grass is long, the coke will be found hidden amongst it. It is popularly supposed that the direction in which an otter is travelling--up or down stream--can be verified by the position in which the coke is left on the stones. In our experience there is little reliability about this theory. On a rock in midstream the position of the coke is quite as likely to be in the centre as at the sides, particularly if there is a tuft of grass or other growth on the stone.
An otter is quite likely to turn round, just as a cat or dog does, prior to depositing the coke, therefore the position of the latter can hardly be a reliable guide as to the direction taken by the animal when it eventually moves off.
Owing to being the possessor of a webbed foot, with five toes and short claws, the otter leaves a track--in hunting parlance "spur," "seal," or "mark,"--entirely different from that of any other animal to be met with in this country. Amongst the general literature relating to the otter, we have found small reference to the animal's footprints, while in some cases the information on the subject was incorrect. For instance in one article we read, it states "No other creature, saving a cat, leaves such a print on Nature's page as does an otter. Four round small toes and, if the soil be favourable, a plain triangle just behind where the webbing of the foot has rested."
