NELSON] BIRD TRAPPING AND SNARING 133 



When the migrating season commences the people take advantage of 

 it to capture the birds with salmon nets. Each net is from 50 to 100 feet 

 in length and is spread open by wooden rods; a man or a woman at each 

 end and another in the middle holds the net flat on the ground; when 

 a flock of ptarmigan come skimming along within two or three feet of 

 the ground, the net is suddenly raised and thrown against and over 

 the birds, so as to cover as many as possible. The persons at the ends 

 hold the net down, while the one in the middle proceeds to wring the 

 necks of the captured birds. After throwing them to one side the net 

 is again placed in position. In this manner a hundred birds or more 

 are sometimes captured in a few minutes. 



Gulls are taken about the northern shore of Norton sound and the 

 coast of Bering strait by means of bone or deerhorn barbs, pointed at 

 both ends and having a sinew or rawhide cord tied in a groove around 

 the middle, the other end of the cord being fjistened to any suitable 

 object that will serve as an anchor; or a long line is anchored at both 

 ends and floated on the surface of the water With barbs attached to it 

 at intervals. Each barb is slipped lengthwise down the throat of a 

 small fish which serves as bait. " As the gulls in their flight see the dead 

 fish floating on the water they seize and swallow them; when they 

 attempt to fly away the barbs turn in their throats and hold them fast. 



Figure 7, plate Li, represents one of these barbs made of deerhorn; 

 it was obtained from Norton sound. 



Along the northern coast of Norton sound the people gather the eggs 

 of sea fowl from the clifls by means of seal nets, which they roll into a 

 cable and lash in that shape with cords; the nets are then lowered 

 over the clifls and the upper ends firmly fastened to rocks or stakes. 

 The egg gatherer fastens a sash about his waist, removes his boots, 

 and goes down the net, hand over hand, to the ledges below, the meshes 

 of the net forming excellent holding places for the fingers and toes; the 

 hunter then fills the inside of his frock above the sash with the eggs 

 and climbs to the top of the cli tt". 



In a camp at Cape Thompson, on the Arctic coast, I saw many dead 

 murresvwhich had been caught by letting a man down by a long line 

 from the top of the cliff to the ledges where the birds were breeding; 

 there he used a scoop net and caught as many birds as he wished by 

 putting it over them while they sat stupidly on their eggs. 



On the islands of Bering strait the people catch great numbers of 

 auklets with scoop nets, and also by placing the rudely stuffed skin of 

 one of the birds on a rocky ledge and a fine-mesh net or snare about 

 it. These birds swarm around the rocky cliffs like bees and continually 

 alight near each other, so that the hunter has only to place the snares 

 in position and come out of concealment to take the birds as they are 

 caught. 



Figure 5, plate li, illustrates one of these snares from St Lawrence 

 island. It consists of a wooden stake, about five inches in length. 



