262 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



some animal seized him by the finger. It was a mink that had 

 been raiding the house; and in the excitement that followed, the 

 brute escaped. The hunter, however, made little of his in- 

 jury; chewing up a quid of tobacco, he placed it over the wound 

 and bound it securely with a rag torn from the tail of his shirt. 

 Oo-koo-hoo explained that in winter time, when there was 

 little snow, he often speared muskrats through the ice. The 

 spear point is usually made of quarter-inch iron wire and at- 

 tached to a seven-foot shaft. Much of the spearing he did at 

 the rats' feeding and airing places — those little dome-shaped 

 affairs made of reeds and mud that cover their water-holes. 

 The hunter, enabled by the clearness of the ice, followed 

 their runways and traced them to where the little fellows often 

 sat inside their shelters. Knowing that the south side of the 

 shelter is the thinnest side, The Owl would drive in his spear 

 and impale the little dweller. 



HUNTING THE OTTER 



That afternoon Oo-koo-hoo set a number of traps for otter. 

 When placed on land otter traps are set as for fox, though of 

 course of a larger size, and the same statement applies to dead- 

 falls; while the bait used for both kinds of otter traps is the 

 same as that used for mink. The otter is an unusually playful, 

 graceful, active, and powerful animal; but when caught in a trap 

 becomes exceedingly vicious, and the hunter must take care 

 lest he be severely bitten. Oo-koo-hoo told me that on one 

 occasion, when he was hunting otters, he lost his favourite dog. 

 The dog was holding an otter prisoner in a rocky pocket where 

 the water was shallow, and the otter, waiting to attack the dog 

 when off guard, at last got its chance, seized its adversary by 

 the throat, and that was the end of the dog. 



The otter is not only easily tamed, but makes a charming 

 pet, as many a trader has proved; and it is one of the few 



