THREE MODERN CARTWRIGHTS 



great bear-traps, for in the spring when the 

 bears first come out from their winter hiberna- 

 tion, their fur is in good condition. 



Of the common belief, so frequently enlarged 

 upon by writers of popular natural history, that 

 animals frequently bite off their own legs to 

 free themselves from traps, he had no regard. 

 In fact, although he said the animal sometimes 

 eats the severed and dead foot under the trap, 

 he had found no evidence of their biting the 

 flesh or bone above the trap. By twisting and 

 pulling, however, in their attempts to get away, 

 he said the animal not infrequently escapes and 

 leaves the foot behind. In the case of the 

 rabbit this freeing from the trap by the loss of 

 a foot is not uncommon, an accident that the 

 slender bones and tender skin of this animal 

 would easily account for, while the usual 

 explanation, in an animal accustomed to use 

 its teeth on bark and other vegetable substances 

 only, he deemed very improbable. Although I 

 had never considered the subject before, and 

 had accepted the usual explanation, I believe he 

 is right, for the method of escape from a trap 

 by biting off the foot would be a most unnatural 

 procedure, and would call for a considerable 

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