PRELIMINARIES. 17 



that the jaws will lie fiat when open. Otherwise the trap can- 

 not well be secreted. 



8. TJie jau'S must work easily in the posts. For want of 

 attention to this, many traps will not spring. 



9. The adjustment of all the parts and their actual working 

 should he so inspected and tested that every trap sJiall he ready 

 for use — '■''sure to go^'' and sure to hold. In consequence 

 of the unfaithfulness of trap-makers in inspecting and testing 

 their work, many a trapper, after lugging a weary back-load 

 of traps into the wilderness, finds that a large portion of them 

 have some " hitch " which either makes them worthless or 

 requires a tug at tinkering before they can be made to do the 

 poorest service. 



German and English traps are almost universally liable to 

 criticism on all the points above mentioned ; and most of the 

 traps made in this country fail in one or more of them. 



In addition to the foregoing requisites, every trap should 

 be furnished with a stout chain, faithfully welded, with ring 

 and swivel. And let the trapper look well to the condition 

 of the swivel. Many of the malleable iron swivels used by 

 second-rate, careless manufacturers, Avill not turn at all ; and 

 many an animal escapes by twisting off chains that have these 

 dead swivels. 



In treating of the capture of particular animals, I shall 

 have occasion to refer frequently to several contrivances tliat 

 are used in connection with the fastening of steel-traps. I 

 will therefore describe those contrivances here, once for all. 



THE SPRING-POLE. 



In taking several kinds of land animals, such as the mar- 

 ten and fisher, it is necessar}^ to provide against their being 

 devoured by other animals before the trapper reaches them, 

 and also against their gnawing off their own legs, or breaking 

 the chain of the trap by violence. The contrivance used for 

 this purpose is called a spring-pole, and is prepared in the fol- 

 lowing manner : If a small tree can be found standing near 

 the place where your trap is set, trim it and use it for a spring 



