14 THE TRAPPER'S ART. 



liquely into this pen, so that the bait attached to it is about 

 eight inches beyond the side of the poles. The animal, to 

 reach the bait, has to place his body between the poles and at 

 right angles to them, and on pullfng the spindle, springs the 

 44 figure four," and is crushed. 



The objections to this contrivance are, first, that it takes a 

 long time to make and set one, thus wasting the trapper's 

 time ; and second, that animals caught in this way lie exposed 

 to the voracity of other animals, and are often torn in pieces 

 before the trapper reaches them, which is not the case when 

 animals are caught in steel-traps, properly set, as will be shown 

 hereafter. Moreover, the dead-fall is very uncertain in its 

 operation, and woodsmen who have become accustomed to 

 good steel-traps, call it a 44 miserable toggle," not worth bait- 

 ing when they find one ready made in the woods. 



POISONING. 



Animals are sometimes poisoned with strychnine. I have 

 myself taken foxes in this way. I used about as much strych- 

 nine as would be contained in a percussion-cap, inclosed firmly 

 in a piece of tallow as large as a chestnut, and left on the 

 fox's bed. After swallowing such a dose, they rarely go more 

 than three or four rods before they drop dead. 



The objection to this method is, that it spoils the skin. 

 Furriers say that the poison spreads through the whole body 

 of the animal, and kills the life of the fur, so that they can- 

 not work it profitably. Poison is used very little by woods- 

 men at the present time. 



SHOOTING. 



This method of killing fur-bearing animals, is still quite 

 prevalent in some countries.- It is said to be the principal 

 method in Russia, and is not altogether disused in this coun- 

 try. But it is a very wasteful method. Fur-dealers and 

 manufacturers consider skins that have been shot, especially 

 by the fowling-piece, as hardly worth working. The holes 

 that are made in the skin, whether by shot or bullets, are but 

 a small part of the damage done to it. The shot that enter 



