00-KOO-HOO'S EL DORADO 101 



endeavouring to secure the dainty duck's head, thrust his 

 forepaw into the hole and was thus taken prisoner. 



Oo-koo-hoo took pains to teach the boys everything in rela- 

 tion to trapping, and as soon as he was sure they had mastered 

 the details of setting such traps, he went ahead with his axe to 

 blaze the right trees, while the boys followed with the auger, 

 and in the work of boring the holes and driving the nails took 

 turn and turn about. But after all, the old-fashioned deadfall 

 is more humane than any other way of trapping, as it often 

 ends the animal's suffering at once by killing it outright, instead 

 of holding it a prisoner till it starves or is frozen to death, before 

 the hunter arrives on his usual weekly round of that particular 

 trapping path. 



Martens mate in February or March, the young being born 

 about three months later, either in a hole in the ground or in a 

 hollow tree; the nest being lined with moss, grass, or leaves, and 

 the litter numbering usually from two to four. The marten is a 

 wonderfully energetic little animal, even more tireless than the 

 squirrel and as great a climber. It is an expert hunter and its 

 food includes birds, fish, chipmunks, birds' eggs, mice, fruit, 

 and rabbits; and it stores its surplus food by burying it. 



MINK ON THE FUR TRAIL 



By the time Oo-koo-hoo and his grandsons had set twelve 

 or fifteen traps it was nearing noon, so we had lunch before 

 starting off in search of another rich game region. While on 

 our way that afternoon the old hunter again discovered signs 

 of wolverines and it worried him, for it meant not only the 

 destruction of many of his traps, but also the ruining of 

 the pelts of some of the animals he might catch. Continuing, 

 we soon entered an ideal valley for mink, where two turbulent 

 httle crystal streams roared at one another as they sprang 

 together among the rocks and then fell down into dark, 



