GENERAL NOTES 145 



and set around the camp either by oneself or by a 

 local native, who probably knows the whereabouts 

 and habits of many interesting and valuable species. 



For the medium and larger beasts small and large 

 gins should be taken, and if carefully set just on a 

 level with the ground, covered over, a zareba of stones 

 or branches so arranged that the animal can only reach 

 the bait by walking across the trap, many a good 

 specimen and fur will result. 



If several traps are out and set over a fair area, 

 the morning holds gj^eat excitement as to what each 

 or any will contain. In fact, trapping grows on the 

 trapper and in time holds him as does the gun. Ver)' 

 great skill is frequently necessary to so set the trap 

 that the natural timidity and cunning of the beast is 

 overcome. 



That trapping is likely to be a cruel practice must 

 be admitted, but if the traps are visited early and 

 often, so that the animals are in them as short a time 

 as possible, and the object is worthy of the practice, 

 as the collecting for science, then there is no more 

 to be said against it than there is against many of the 

 other forms of sport. 



That a man interested in one sport often belittles or 

 despises the sport of another is well known, and when 

 in a mountainous district of these islands the other 

 day, a keeper to whom I was talking about game 

 and tourists said, " Funny amusements some people 

 have ; there are folk who come up here to climb 



II 



