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THE BOOK OF THE OTTER

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Otter Basking in Shallow Water.

(Copyright by Alfred Taylor, Whalley).

Frontispiece.

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THE BOOK OF
THE OTTER

A MANUAL FOR SPORTSMEN AND
NATURALISTS

BY

RICHARD CLAPHAM

AUTHOR OF
"FOX-HUNTING ON THE LAKELAND FELLS,"
"ROUGH SHOOTING," ETC.

With Illustrations from Photographs by the Author
F. Lees and Alfred Taylor

AND AN INTRODUCTION BY
WILLIAM THOMPSON, M.O.H.

HEATH CRANTON, LIMITED
6 FLEET LANE, LONDON, E.C.4.

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PREFACE

In these days otter-hunting is a popular sport, andin consequence there are now many more packs ofotterhounds than was formerly the case. Of allbeasts of chase in this country, the otter is the oneabout which we know least, for he is a greatwanderer, a creature of the night, and thereforedifficult to study systematically.

Of the many people who follow hounds, comparativelyfew understand the science of hunting, orthe habits of the creature which forms their quarry.This is probably to some extent due to the factthat there are very few books dealing exclusivelywith the otter and his hunting. A knowledge ofthe science of hunting and the habits of the quarrycan be picked up by those who have leisure tostudy the subject afield, but there are others whose« 8 »opportunities of doing so are limited. It is,therefore, in the hope of interesting and perhapsinstructing the latter, that we have written thefollowing chapters.

R. CLAPHAM.

Troutbeck,
   Windermere.
     April, 1922.

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CONTENTS