112 CANADIAN WILDS. 



Otters, when taken young, are readily tamed 

 and become great pets. 



Another way of setting traps in winter is un- 

 der the ice in some creek Avhere otters are known 

 to resort. The ice is cut away from the bank, 

 outward, for about 3 feet long by 1 foot or so 

 wide. Each side of this cut is staked with dry 

 sticks, driven into the mud or sandy bottom. 

 The trap is set between the stakes at the outer 

 end, in about 4 inches of water at least; that 

 is, the water may be deeper than that, but two 

 cross sticks are so placed that the otter in en- 

 tering must go under the sticks and thus gets 

 caught. The picket to secure the trap chain to 

 is out from the trap, as in open-water time. 



To induce him to enter, a small whitefish or 

 trout is placed on a forked stick near the shore, 

 and is so fixed that it appears to be alive and 

 swimming. As soon as the trap is struck, the 

 otter jumps backward into deep water, and for 

 want of air is soon dead. 



* * * 



In Canada and the United States, the kill- 

 ing of the little animal known under the several 

 names of water rat, musquash and muskrat is 

 so well understood by the average frontier boy 

 that any information I can give would be per- 

 haps a repetition. 



Still there is one way that the Indian prac- 



