THE FORESTS AND SPORT OF SIBERIA. 



153 



maddening to the robber; just another bound, and two rifles ring 

 out, and the wolf rolls gasping in death. 



Equally artful is the circular trap much used in the Ural 

 district. At a short distance from the village a circular space 

 about two yards in diameter is enclosed with close-set deep- 

 sunk stakes; around this is formed a second similar circle at an 



Fig. 23. -A Siberian Method of Wolf-shooting. 



interval of about a foot and a half from the first. Two specially 

 strong posts support a solid deal door moving on firm hinges, 

 furnished with a spring-catch, and so arranged that it opens only 

 inwards, pressure outwards causing the spring-catch to shut. Both 

 circles are roofed over, not thickly, indeed, but firmly, and a trap- 

 door in the roof admits to the inner circle. When it is perceived 

 that the wolves are beginning to visit the village by night, the trap 

 is set by placing a live goat in the inner enclosure and opening the 



