86 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



in the old position is to put the fox off his guard when he ap- 

 proaches the dead rabbit hanging in the snare. As, no doubt, 

 he has seen a rabbit hang many times before, and snares so 

 baited he has often robbed. The Indian in his extreme care 

 to avoid communicating man-smell to the rabbit will even 

 remain to leeward of it while he handles it, lest man-scent 

 should blow against the rabbit and adhere to the fur. If that 

 happened, the fox would be so suspicious that he would not go 

 near the rabbit. 



But to illustrate how stupid the white fox of the Arctic coast 

 is in comparison with the coloured fox of the forest, the following 

 story is worth repeating. It happened near Fort Churchill on 

 the northwest coast of Hudson Bay. The trader at the post 

 had given a certain Eskimo a spoon-bait, or spoon-hook, the 

 first he had ever seen; and as he thought it a very wonderful 

 thing, he always carried it about with him. The next fall, while 

 going along the coast, he saw a pack of white foxes approaching, 

 and having with him neither a trap nor a gun, he thought 

 of his spoon-hook. Tearing a rag off his shirt, he rubbed on it 

 some porpoise oil which he was carrying in a bladder, fastened 

 the rag about the hook, laid it on a log directly in the path of 

 the approaching foxes, and, going to the end of the fine, lay down 

 out of sight to watch what would happen. When the foxes 

 drew near, one of them seized the bait, and the Eskimo, jerking 

 the line, caught the fox by the tongue. In that way the native 

 caught six foxes before he returned to the post; but then, as 

 everyone m the Far North knows, white foxes are proverbially 

 stupid creatures. 



The more expert the hunter, the more pride he takes in his 

 work. Before leaving a trap, he wiU examine its surroundings 

 carefully and decide from which angle he wishes the animal 

 to approach; then by arranging cut brush in a natural way in 

 the snow he will block all other approaches, and thus compel 

 the unsuspecting fox to carry out his wishes. 



