THREE MODERN CARTWRIGHTS 
great bear-traps, for in the spring when the 
bears first come out from their winter hiberna- 
tion, their fur is in good condition. 
Of the common belief, so frequently enlarged 
upon by writers of popular natural history, that 
animals frequently bite off their own legs to 
free themselves from traps, he had no regard. 
In fact, although he said the animal sometimes 
eats the severed and dead foot under the trap, 
he had found no evidence of their biting the 
flesh or bone above the trap. By twisting and 
pulling, however, in their attempts to get away, 
he said the animal not infrequently escapes and 
leaves the foot behind. In the case of the 
rabbit this freeing from the trap by the loss of 
a foot is not uncommon, an accident that the 
slender bones and tender skin of this animal 
would easily account for, while the usual 
explanation, in an animal accustomed to use 
its teeth on bark and other vegetable substances 
only, he deemed very improbable. Although I 
had never considered the subject before, and 
had accepted the usual explanation, I believe he 
is right, for the method of escape from a trap 
by biting off the foot would be a most unnatural 
procedure, and would call for a considerable 
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