I  may  say  in  all  the  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  I  have  lived  in  the
United  States,  I  have  never  seen  an  Otter  coat  which  had  not  some-
thing which  a  Canadian  or  Russian  would  reject.     Either  it  was


SEA  OTTER  AND  LAND  OTTER  iii

the  belly  and  side  fur  plucked  and  dyed  to  imitate  beaver  or  seal,
with  the  real  unplucked  otter  for  collar  and  cuffs ;  or  it  had  been
silvered  by  chemicals  to  imitate  Russian  sable,  which  must  cer-
tainly weaken  the  pelt,  made  it  an  imitation  of  a  true  fur  and  brought
the  price  up  close  to  the  cost  of  marten  or  mink.  Also  those  sil-
vered pelts  were  of  very  small  animals ;  and  when  the  combination
of  a  small  pelt  and  chemicals  is  found  though  you  may  be  told  it
"looks  just  like  marten  with  the  stripe  left  out"  —  look  out  for
unprlme  fur  doctored.  Prime  Otter  is  dark  as  seal,  deep  as  fox,
tough  as  buffalo,  and  rich  as  mahogany.
I  quote  the  Canadian  Conservation  Report :

"Full-grown  Canadian  otters  are  about  4  feet  in  total  length
and  weigh  approximately  20  to  30  pounds.  Their  striking  charac-
teristics are  long,  lithe  bodies,  tapering  into  long,  muscular,  flat-
tened tails ;  very  short  legs,  fully  webbed  hind  feet ;  short  ears,
keen  little  eyes  and  a  beautiful  coat  of  dense,  dark  brown  fur.
They  are  weasel-like  in  their  quickness,  extremely  muscular  and,
for  their  size,  fearless  and  savage  fighters.
