NEZ LONG'S MENAGERIE 179 



on their stoiniiclis, y[)rea(.l out their hind legs, give a 

 push and slide down one after another, plunging into 

 the water at tlie end, only to land again at a suita- 

 ble spot, clinil) u[) hill and slide once more. You can 

 imagine that a slippery mud-covered coast is soon 

 formed, which is used by the Otter community. When 

 the snow is deep, they make similar coasts through it 

 down toward their feeding places, and they may then 

 be easily tracked when on their excursions about 

 home. 



''Then they don't sleep the winter sleep?" said Rap. 

 '* How do they catch fish when the rivers freeze ? " 



" They are on the watch all winter, like the other 

 members of the family of little fur bearers, or Mustelidce^ 

 as the Wise Men call them. They keep their fishing 

 holes open through the ice, and these holes, as well as 

 their slides, guide people in trapping them. One of 

 the most likely places to set a trap is in a slideway, or 

 fastened securely to a pole under the Otter's favorite 

 fishing-hole. 



" Why do they catch them with traps, when Nez 

 says it is so much trouble to bait them ? Why isn't it 

 easier to shoot them ? " asked Nat. 



" In the first place all these fur fourfoots prowl about 

 mostly after dark, and are very wild and so keen of 

 scent that it is difficult to get near them, while at best 

 a hunter would have to shoot them one by one, and 

 they might sink uiuler the ice and be lost. If he uses 

 traps, he can set a dozen or more on a single afternoon 

 and leave them to do their own work in the night. 

 There is another reason, too, why it is not best to shoot 

 them. Can either of you guess it ? " 



