INTRODUCTION. 



IN the hope of achieving to some degree the virtue 

 of originality if originality can truly be termed 

 a virtue this book has been written from practical 

 observations, and, so far as possible, without the 

 aid of references. It is understood that originality 

 strikes the keynote of interest, and while I have 

 perhaps been guilty of shirking the more burden- 

 some and technical details concerning the animals 

 dealt with, I have endeavoured to include not 

 only necessary facts, but also to infuse into each 

 record something of the character of the beast 

 itself. I have considered it essential not only to 

 describe an animal as a creature of certain habits, 

 but also to treat it as a thing of temperament 

 and character, for it is only by the power of 

 insight into this side of nature that one can 

 hope to arrive at a thorough understanding of 

 the denizens of the wild. An American Indian, 

 when trying to impart his knowledge concerning 

 some wild beast, tells you not of its habits, but 

 of its character ; and it is because he himself knows 

 so well the temperaments of the creatures he 

 hunts that he is so much a master of woodcraft, 

 for with this knowledge he is at once on the 

 highroad to penetrating the innermost secrets of 

 their lives. In the same way the man who is 

 dependent upon his traps for a living profits at 

 every turn by his intimate knowledge of the 

 creatures he is out to trap. Some he knows to be 

 inquisitive, so he appeals to their curiosity ; others 

 he knows to be wary, and he trades on their 

 wariness ; all, he knows, have some weakness, some 



