HAMMOCK NIGHTS 205 
low naturalist of nine never lost an opportunity 
to set innumerable traps for the lesser jungle- 
folk, such as mice and opossums, all of which 
he religiously measured and skinned, so that each, 
in its death, should add its mite to human knowl- 
edge. As a fisherman runs out set lines, so would 
he place his traps in a circle under his hammock, 
using a cord to tie each and every one to the 
meshes. This done, it was his custom to lie at 
ease and wait for the click below which would 
usher in a new specimen,—perhaps a new spe- 
cies,—to be lifted up, removed, and safely cached 
until morning. This strategic method served a 
double purpose: it conserved natural energy, and 
it protected the catch. For if the traps were 
set in the jungle and trustfully confided to its 
care until the break of day, the ants would leave 
a beautifully cleaned skeleton, intact, all unnec- 
essarily entrapped. 
Now it happened that once, when he had set 
his nocturnal traps, he straightway went to sleep 
in the midst of all the small jungle people who 
were calling for mates and new life, so that he 
did not hear the click which was to warn him 
that another little beast of fur had come un- 
awares upon his death. But he heard, suddenly, 
