List of the Fauna of the County. 165
taken in the Colchester district, and quite recently one was
caught between Colchester and Harwich, at Bentley; but
these individuals were, I fear, our last survivors of a race
which gave much sport to our ancestors, or, perhaps we should
say, gave opportunity for the exhibition of much brutality.
In my younger days I saw a few baitings, but it certainly did
not strike me that any great amount of suffering was inflicted
on the badger; the dogs, especially those new to the work,
gave unmistakable evidence that they did not like the
badger's jaws.
Carnivora. Mustelidae.
Lutra vulgaris. Common Otter.—This animal also, in
Essex, is becoming rare, not on account of the value of our
coarse fish on which it lives, but in consequence of the ease
with which it may be taken in a steel trap, and so be made
into a "specimen" to adorn the hall wall,—a horrible
"stuffed" effigy of its former graceful self. It has occa-
sionally appeared lately in the Colne River, close to this
town, and several have unfortunately been destroyed at Ford
Street. It occurs also in the Stour, Chelmer, Blackwater,
and Lea. It is certainly one of our most interesting and
graceful animals when swimming in its native streams. It
is astonishing that so large an animal is able to slip into the
water so quietly, not making half the wake that a rat does ;
but so it is, and anyone who is fortunate enough to see a
mother and family playing in clear water, as I have more
than once, will I am certain agree with me that it is one of
the most interesting sights possible. Otters are usually
nocturnal in their habits, like the rest of the family, and I
have heard an old gentleman say that when the ground was
covered with snow he tracked an otter for miles in its passage
from pond to pond where it had travelled during the night.
This occurred in Dengie hundred, at a time when ponds
containing fish, or at all events eels, were much more common
than now, and when almost every field had its pond.
Mustela vulgaris. Common Weasel.—A character suffi-
cient to enable one at a glance to distinguish this animal
from the stoat is afforded in the coloration of the tail, which