THE STEEL-TRAP. 59 



Fig. 1 represents the trap as a whole, and when gillrad ; 

 Fig. 2, the gillring apparatus E on an enlarged scale; and 

 Fig. 3, the gill er- pin (forming part of the gillring apparatus) 

 as seen in front, as also in profile. 



A A, Figs. 1 and 2, is the lever, generally consisting of a 

 young tree, or it may be of a stout pole ; and if the thicker 

 end of this is not heavy enough, additional weights are 

 attached ; B, the pivot, or fulcrum, on which the lever rests ; 

 c, a tree, or stump, wherein the pivot B is inserted ; D, the 

 noose, the lower part of which ought to be nine to ten inches 

 from the ground ; E, the gillring apparatus ; F, the outer- 

 most of the two posts between which the noose D is 

 suspended, and to the top of which, by means of the hank G, 

 the gillring apparatus is affixed. 



As the several drawings go far to explain this contrivance, 

 it would be superfluous to enter into farther details. Suffice 

 it to say, that when the fox gets his head into the noose D, 

 his struggles cause the bevelled end of the giller-pin to 

 slip out of the hank G, by which the lever is set free, and 

 as a consequence Reynard, in the twinkling of an eye, is 

 dangling in the air. 



Of all the devices employed in Scandinavia to capture the 

 fox, the common steel-trap is that, perhaps, in most general 

 use. Opinions differ somewhat as to its proper size, and forma- 

 tion ; but all agree in saying that immediately prior to its 

 being brought into play in the autumn, and after that it has 

 been well smoked over a tire composed of the green twigs 

 of the birch or other tree, it should be Vittrad, or rubbed 

 over, with some sort of preparation, as well to protect it from 

 rust and to take away the odour of the iron, as to nullify any 

 possible taint it may have received from the hand. What- 



