448 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



is often over an inch in depth; but it differs in quality, 

 some portions of it being finer and longer than others. 

 Large numbers of this animal are captured annually in steel- 

 traps and wooden dead-falls, the traps sometimes extending 

 for a distance of forty or fifty miles in a certain direction, 

 and numbering several to the mile. The bait consists sim- 

 ply of a bit of meat, a bird's head, or even a field-mouse ; 

 for it seems to have an appetite for all things edible, from 

 insects to eggs and rats. 



Like its congeners, it emits a strong effluvium at will, 

 but it is not so strong as that of the skunk or mink. This 

 creature is thoroughly arboreous in its habitat ; hence it is 

 seldom found in clearings or near settlements, so that it 

 does little harm to the poultry-yard. It is an expert climb- 

 er, most active worker, and a shrewd little creature in many 

 ways ; and, were it not for its odor, it would make an amus- 

 ing house -pet. Its fur is in such active demand that it 

 meets a ready sale; and this causes trappers to capture it 

 in large numbers during the winter. 



The stoat, or ermine (Putorius ermined), is very common 

 in Alaska and British America. This graceful, untiring, 

 brave, and destructive creature has four or five young ones 

 at a time, their birthplace being generally the hollow of a 

 log, a tree, or a rocky cavity. The stoat certainly deserves 

 its technical name, for, when aroused by anger or sexual 

 passion, it emits a vile odor which is almost unbearable ; so 

 that it is no wonder that rats and ground-squirrels flee be- 

 fore it in terror, as, omitting its fierce and destructive na- 

 ture, which induces it to kill even when there is no neces- 



