" Tolling " Wild Animals 



get the camera focussed on any one of them, but they 

 were too quick and wary. 



I suddenly thought of the Nowe method that I had 

 recently heard of, and decided to see if I could excite 

 their curiosity so that they would come and keep still 

 long enough for me to take their pictures. I had heard 

 mink squeal when they were in a trap or in a fight, and 

 believed that I could imitate closely that particular 

 sound, but it did not seem to me a practical thing for 

 enticing the youngsters into view. After pondering 

 a moment, I took a bunch of keys out of my pocket and 

 tinkled them like ringing a bell. I peeped over the edge 

 of the breakwater, and three curious little heads ducked 

 back under the logs. I held the bunch of keys in the 

 sunlight and tinkled them again. Three little heads 

 immediately popped into view. So long as I tinkled 

 the keys and held them where they could be seen, the 

 mink seemed to be fascinated, darting in and out between 

 the logs while working their way nearer and nearer. 

 Finally one little fellow stuck his head out from under 

 the logs just beneath my feet. So, holding the keys 

 dangling from my finger, I aimed the camera and took 

 a snap. 



As it was an awkward place from which to try for 

 another photo, I resolved to see if I could coax any one 

 of the small family out into the bright sunshine on the 

 top of the breakwater. I tiptoed back to the hole in 

 the plank where I had first seen the mink, held the 

 camera ready, and jingled the keys. I was fully thirty 

 feet away from the point where the mink had been playing 

 and where I took the first picture. In a minute or two 

 all three mink popped out of the hole in the planking, 

 saw me, and scurried to cover. I was so anxious to get 

 a picture of the entire family that I missed my chance 

 of snapping two that showed for an instant in the finder. 



79 



