THE WILD REINDEER OF NORWAY. 21 



plane of snow leads to the entrance of the pit, 

 which is about five feet deep, and of sufficient 

 dimensions to contain two or three full-grown 

 deer. The pit is covered by a large thin slab of 

 snow, which the animal is enticed to tread upon by 

 a quantity of the lichens on which it feeds being 

 placed conspicuously on an eminence beyond the 

 opening. The exterior of the trap is banked up 

 with snow so as to resemble a natural hillock, and 

 care is taken to render it so steep on all sides but 

 one, that the deer must pass over the mouth of the 

 trap before it can reach the bait. The slab is suffi- 

 ciently strong to bear the weight of a deer until it 

 has passed the middle, when it revolves on two 

 short axles of wood, precipitates the deer into the 

 trap, and returns to its place again, in consequence 

 of the lower end being heavier than the other. 



In Eussian Finland another plan, called " Vild 

 Ken Hage," of capturing the animal is adopted. A 

 kind of fence about two miles long is constructed of 

 small trees matted and interlaced with brushwood. 

 Openings are left here and there, about three feet 

 in width, and two stout posts are driven into the 

 ground on either side ; to one of these is fastened 

 a strong noose made of tolerably thick rope, which 

 is made to retain a circular form by means of small 

 sticks. It is said that the deer when they meet 

 with these hedges, which .are generally made when 



