103 
OUR BIRDS IN WINTER. 
the snares you speak' of. I would wish to 
know how to recognize them, and be able to 
avoid them.” 
I don’t know that I can describe them so 
that you can recognize them, and tliere are 
several kinds. One, the most common, is 
made somewhat after this manner. I watched 
a fellow making it, from the foliage of a pine, 
near by, and have a tolerable idea of it. 
First he selected a small sapling, that was 
straight and springy, and trimmed off all the 
branches, for nearly its whole length ; he then 
cut it off at a height of perhaps his head from 
the ground when he was standing up, and, 
bending it down, drove into the ground exactly 
below its upper end a crotched stick that he 
cut from another sapling. He then fastened 
a cord to the upper end of the sapling ; about 
midway on this cord was a short stick or 
button, and at the end of the cord was a slip- 
knot or noose ; he passed the button under 
the crotch that was driven into the ground, 
and, fixing it perpendicularly in the crotch, 
held it in place by putting under the lower 
end a slender piece of stick or spindle. 
