THE BADGER 



variably reappear within a few minutes. If it 

 offers no chance for a shot, a trap placed at the 

 entrance and covered nicely generally brings 

 about its destruction. If no trap is at hand it 

 can be confined to its hole by tying a piece of 

 paper or a rag to a stick and placing it not less 

 than two feet from the entrance, which will pre- 

 vent its leaving the hole for twenty- four hours or 

 so. This is a surer method of keeping the animal 

 a prisoner than blocking the entrance, and works 

 satisfactorily also with other marauders that take 

 to holes. 



A fox can usually be held thus for several 

 days, and by this ruse I have actually starved 

 two of them to death. There was in each case 

 three entrances, and but one trap at hand, which 

 was in both instances uncovered by the prisoners 

 during the first night. 



As the ground was frozen hard, I did not wish 

 to bother with setting the trap at another en- 

 trance, so I left things as they were, after cover- 

 ing the instrument again. But the foxes knew 

 it was there all the same, and did not again try 

 to leave their prison by that exit, and the other 



183 



