SOPER — THE SNOWSHOE RABBIT 
103 
plague. The toiling trapper, depending on the effectiveness of each 
of his traps, they drive to a form of desperation. 
Night after night along the whole long line the cubby or bait pens are 
torn down or in some way molested. The bait frequently disappears, 
the traps are sprung, and in a good many instances (sometimes half of 
them) the rabbit sacrifices his life to his curiosity. The traps thus set 
The Snowsiioe Rabbit 
These snowy figures like statues in the distance, form one of the features 
of a woodland ramble 
for costly fur-bearers are consequently rendered useless — filled with 
‘Trash” as it is regarded. The best that can be done is to remove the 
rabbit carcass from the “set,” wedge it overhead in a forked tree, make 
all additional provisions against the blundering in of others, and resume 
chances. I can vouch for it as being rather disheartening work for I 
have taken as high as a dozen hares from a line of twenty lynx traps in a 
single morning. There is a method of adjusting a fine bent twig under 
the pan of a large trap to prevent the smaller species from springing 
the trap, but the idea is not practical except when employed on the 
