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 
