COLLECTING. 5 



to set a trap ; and small hawks and owls may 

 be captured by putting the trap on the top of a 

 stake, some eight or ten feet high, in a meadow, 

 especially if there are no fences near. Hawks and 

 owls haunt meadows in search of mice, and in- 

 variably light upon a solitary stake, if they can 

 find one, in order to eat their prey or to rest, and 

 thus are very apt to put their " foot into it," in a 

 manner decidedly agreeable to the collector, if not 

 so pleasing to themselves. Steel-traps may also 

 be set on boards nailed to trees, in the woods or on 

 hill-tops, but they should in this case be baited 

 with a small mammal or bird. I have succeeded in 

 capturing marsh hawks by tying a living mouse to 

 a steel-trap, and placing it in a meadow which was 

 frequented by these birds. Other hawks and also 

 eagles may be captured by using decoys ; the best 

 thing for this purpose being, strangely enough, 

 a live great horned owl. The owl is fastened to 

 a stout stake in an open field or meadow during 

 the migration of hawks, in the spring or fall, and 

 surrounded by baited traps. The hawks passing 

 over are attracted by the novel spectacle of an owl 

 in such a peculiar position and come swooping 

 down for a nearer view, when they perceive the 

 bait, and in trying to eat it are caught. A hawk 



