The Otter generally frequents rivers and brooks, in order to search for his prey, and will often come to fish-ponds likewise, destroying the fish, and yet not lie there; the method to discover his haunts is very easy, for, in whatever place he preys, you will be certain to find tails, or hinder parts of the fish, left undevoured, at the sides of the ponds, &c. for it is observable that he eats the head and body of the fish, as far as the vent, and very seldom any farther; look all round the pond, and by his marks or footsteps, you will find where he enters the pond, and likewise where he comes out to eat the fish by the side, for no amphibious animal devours his prey in the water, or can remain a single moment under it, longer than he can hold his breath. When you have discovered the place, it will be adviseable to put a good strong steel trap in the water, down in the mud; put the mud over the bridge of the trap as much as you can, that he may not discover the trap. I have catched several this way. If you should not happen to find where he takes the water, you will see where he sits to eat his fish, and then you must set a trap or two by the side of the water, in different places, where you find the bits of fish; cut a hole in the ground to let them in, just flush or even with the ground, then cover them over with moss very nicely: but, in my opinion, there is no necessity to bait them, for the Otter will seldom, I believe never, touch any thing but what he kills himself. I may possibly be mistaken in this point, but after many repeated trials never could get him to touch any bait I set for him.
The Otter in rivers and brooks has a kennel, which, with proper notice, as before given, you will find; the structure of it is very ingenious and admirable, indeed not equal to that of the beaver, though in some instances of a similar construction, for they always have two ways to go in and out, one by land and the other by water, for such is the cunningness and sagacity of these vermin towards their preservation, that if disturbed by land, they can vent or escape by water, and if attacked by water they can escape by land; now when you have found out these kennels, and discern that they use and frequent it, look carefully about and you will see some of his landing places, where he sits and eats his prey, and before the spot where he lands, there put a trap down in the water as already directed in the ponds, where I have caught them, and likewise destroyed all the young ones in the kennel, but know no bait in particular they are fond of, as before observed; though others may be of a contrary opinion.
In many places where I have been, small hounds have been employed in destroying these vermin, called Otter hounds; when one is unkennelled, he immediately goes to the bottom of the water, where he remains as long as his breath will hold out, which is a considerable time; he then goes under the bank, or under some reeds or boughs, there he draws breath and blubbers the water; the term when he is perceived by any of his pursuers is to say, There he vents; and they strike at him with a spear made for that purpose, and often kill him, but if the spear misses, he sets off again and the dogs follow, and if good seldom miss of killing him.
The above animal is not footed like other vermin, for they have a web between each claw, like many water fowls, which greatly accelerates their motion in swimming, when pursued by the dogs; they have no heel, but a round ball under the sole of the foot, the track of which is called their mark, and their dung is called their sprents.
THE
BADGER.
He is a grey hard haired animal, a good deal of the pig kind; and is not near so hurtful as many other animals of the vermin kind; for the chief mischief he does, consists in scratching of earths, or holes, which afterwards serve for earth for the foxes to harbour in, and in scratching and grubbing up the ground, in searching after his food, such as pignuts and roots, on which, and on beach-mast, acorns, crabs, and other trash, he subsists, but does not prey on living things of any kind, as has been asserted by some authors, who have falsly affirmed that he destroys and lives on young lambs, pigs, and poultry; and in consequence of the simplicity of his food, I have known, in some places, people will eat them, being generally very fat, and their flesh exceedingly sweet.
I have practised two methods of taking the Badger with great success, the first of which is, when you have found out one of their earths, let two persons go out in the night, while they are in search of their food, and put a thin sack into the hole, and fasten it at the mouth, that the Badger may not run away with it; then let one person remain near the hole, while the other beats round the fields with a dog, in order to drive him home; when he finds the dog after him, he runs to his hole as fast as possible, and goes into the sack, which slips close like a purse; the party who stayed near the hole, on hearing his approach, lays hold of the mouth of the sack, and pulls out the Badger in it, and this method is termed, Sacking the Badger. Another way is to place a steel trap, in which you will catch him very easily, as he is nothing near so shy as the fox; when you come to his earths or holes, make the mouths of all the angles quite smooth, and come again the next morning, when you will see whether any have been in or gone out, and if you track him in and out, then put a trap in each earth, in the same manner as you did for the fox, and you need not fear catching him, but remember to stake down your trap, that he may not go away with it.
THE
SHEEP-KILLING DOG.
This animal is extremely pernicious and detrimental, wherever he exists, for when once a Dog takes to killing sheep, he seldom or never leaves the practice off, in which he is extremely shy, and it is a very difficult matter to put a stop to his proceedings till you can discover his owner, which is no easy task, for if once he perceives you are tracing him home, he will go two or three miles another way.
If it happens that he should come in the night, and destroy any of your lambs or sheep, the circumstance becomes very alarming, and the farmer generally moves his sheep into another field or place, this certainly will baulk him for some small time, till he finds them again, and then the consequence is as bad as ever; I would therefore advise not to move your flocks at all, for the following reason, that by this means you may be the sooner able to destroy him. To this end, go early in the morning into the field where the sheep are, which is always customary, every morning, among the farmers, then you will find whether he has been amongst and killed any of them: if you perceive this to be the case, inspect carefully all round the field, whether you can track, or see the print of his feet, at any gate, stile, or gap, if there be one, if you look carefully it is ten to one but you trace his footsteps; this being done, you may prepare for him against night in the following manner: get two good steel traps, set one of them by the side of the gate, stile, or gap, where you imagine he enters, within side of the field, in the same manner as before directed for the fox in a cube trap, and cover the same, but do not handle the mould; then take the liver of the sheep or lamb he has devoured, cut them into slices, fry them in some good dripping, and put them on the back part of the cube; then take a piece of the flesh of the sheep or lamb, and rub it all about the gate or stile, &c. in order that he may be allured by the scent; then set another trap in the same manner at a different gate, for fear he should not come in the same way: a farmer is sometimes at a loss for these traps, but if he lives adjacent to any warren, he may easily borrow two of the true sort; but for fear of an accident it would not be amiss for the farmer to have them always by him. The above directions being put into execution, get a sheep’s paunch and draw a trail all round the field, as you do for the fox, and draw it up close to the mouth of each cube or trap, and by these means I have frequently catched several of them.