78 MARTEN AND OTHER SMALL MAMMALS 



strangling piece, insert the latch, place one end 

 of the pin on it and the strangling piece rests on 

 the other end, and your trap is ready. When an 

 animal pulls on the baited latch the pin slips off 

 and out, and the trap falls. This is on the figure 

 of four principle, with only two pieces instead 

 of three. The above kind of trap is generally 

 built in mid-winter, and the stump cut three feet 

 above snow level, so that it is scarcely ever out 

 of order on account of being under the snow. A 

 well built trap, such as here described, will last 

 from ten to fifteen years. The principle for 

 building on the ground or snow is exactly the 

 same and for all small mammals is one of the best 

 kind of dead falls. Steel traps, No. 1, the best, 

 are often used and set in the same way. For bait, 

 fish is much used, especially near the coast line. 

 Long strips of dog fish flesh are often dried for 

 this purpose, and it is very oily and tough and 

 not liable to be eaten by vermin, mice, &c. When 

 flesh is used for bait, hare and squirrel meat is 

 preferred, being the natural food. Marten are 

 not at all shy, and will frequently come near a 

 camp, and even into it. I have caught several by 

 leaving a baited steel trap inside of my camp when 

 we had occasion to leave it. They are nocturnal 

 in their habits, but now and then one is seen in 

 the day time. 



Ermine are very often caught in marten traps, 



