54 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 16-No. 4 



Each has his own way of making skins but 

 a few general remarks might be useful. 



Don't make hollow-necked, pot-bellied spec- 

 imens. 



TJfin't on the otliev hand make the throat the 

 most prominent part, as many do. Choose 

 the mean and have a beautiful smooth curve 

 from bill to breast. 



Don' I be satisfied with anything short of per- 

 fection. You probably will not be satisfied 

 many times, but y(m will make skins that to 

 the average collector neem perfect. 



AND LAST OF ALL 



Don't send out as first class any of your 

 earlier attempts. 



Don't attempt to palm off any old skins on 

 one you believe to be a young collector. You 

 may catch a tartar to your everlasting shame 

 and disgrace. Strwart E. White. 



Gniuil Rapiils, Mich. 



Reminiscences of an Old Steel Trap. 



It is a trap with a history — this old- 

 fashioned, toothed-jawed, fixed-spring machine 

 — and although not as useful as the more 

 modern tyjies, yet I do not think many steel 

 traps have caught a greater variety of game. 



When I first became aciiuainted witli it, 

 some twenty odd years ago (and it was an old 

 trap then), it was usually kept setting, during 

 the winter months,in the hedge surrounding the 

 garden belonging to my old home in England. 

 Hares were fond of straying around there at 

 night in quest of food, and for their benefit 

 especially, was the trap placed in their runs 

 through the hedge. Many a large eight or ten- 

 pound hare has had his confidence rudely 

 sliaken as the jaws rose through the dead 

 leaves covering his "meuse" (run) throiigli the 

 hedge and not a few rabbits have come to hand 

 l>y like means. An occasional partridge or 

 l)heasant would stray that way when much 

 shooting was going on in tlie fields; sometimes 

 they would fall victims to tlie old trap"s thir.st 

 for Ijlood. Quite a s])rinkling of the neigh- 

 Ijor's cats (and our own, too) have also been 

 caught by it, and once or twice dogs have 

 also come to grief in ti'ying to enter that 

 garden. On one occasion, at least, I can re- 

 member a red fox being caught but that speci- 

 men was kept sometime in captivity and 

 finally turned loose, as "vulpecide" is one of 

 the deadly sins across the water. Stoats, 

 weasels, rats, and once a Blackbird, has it 



caused to give up the ghost, and probably 

 other things of which I wot not. 



In those days the trap was attached to a 

 heavy chain, and this chain was always fastened 

 by means of a padlock to the base of some 

 stout-growing hawthorn plant in the hedge. 



Tlie first winter after its emigration to 

 America it was set for a .short time in an arti- 

 ficial run made along an old rail fence, and 

 while it stayed there it caught two (.)r three 

 chipmunks — its first American game. 



After that winter it lay idle for some years 

 until three or four winters ago it was again set 

 in a run made along an old rotting fence and 

 baited with a fresh bird every few days. This 

 was with the idea of catching minks, but I 

 know a little more about the habits of minks 

 now than I did then. While setting in this 

 place a weasel was the first thing secured, and 

 soon after a possum was caught by the tail but 

 escaped after leaving unmistakable traces 

 both as to what he was and how he had been 

 caught. A few days later the old trap again 

 shut down on the same possum, and this time 

 it held him. the scars on his tail betrayinghis 

 identity with the one that had formerly es- 

 caped. Soon aftei- the locality v\as changed to 

 a hole under some large granite btuildeis and 

 from this place several rabbits were secured. 

 In setting for mink later, on the trap being 

 baited with a bird, a field mouse had his skull 

 smashed in the jaws, and afterwards, when 

 being set for muskrat, a Field Sparrow was 

 caught. This same winter the trap sliut Its 

 old teeth on a fifteen-pound otter and earned 

 everlasting glory and some lucre thereby. 

 Since then it has taken quite a number of 

 muski-at and some mink, and at the present 

 time it is still setting for the former. It is 

 quite an institution with us and although my 

 more important trapping work is usually done 

 with the more modern "Newhouse," yet I 

 trust it may be many years before the old 

 reliable finds its way to the junk dealer's shop. 



I[. II. liriiiilrij. 

 R,alei(;Ii. N- ('. 



Edward K. Green. 



Died at his home in Austin, Texas, on the 

 second day of February, 1801, Edward K. 

 Green, aged eighteen years. Mr. (Jreen had 

 Ijeen a diligent collector for several years, and 

 was becoming well known to the ornithological 

 fraternity. 



