34 
CATCHING ANIMALS ALIVE 
It is often desirable to capture small mammals and birds alive, for 
the purpose of studying poses and photographing them, and to release 
them uninjured if not wanted for specimens. Sometimes in warm weather 
a small mammal will spoil in the trap overnight, or a dead animal will 
be mutilated and destroyed by large ants and other insects that are not 
apt to injure a living specimen. 
The recent world-wide development of bird-banding has brought 
out so many devices for capturing birds alive, and so many papers have 
been published on this subject that there is space only to mention 
Lincoln and Baldwin's “Manual for Bird Banders” (1929), which 
describes about fifty different kinds of bird traps. Many of these traps 
are also suitable for capturing mammals, although the ordinary mammal 
will burrow out of many of the drop traps or ground traps used for birds. 
For catching mammals the trap will usually need an automatic release, 
as the small mammals generally go about at night and it is impracticable 
to watch for them. For rabbits, squirrels, etc., the old-fashioned “Figure- 
4” trap (Figure 4) is useful. For deadfall purposes the Eskimo fox and 
wolverine trap is still simpler, and might be used to support a drop cage 
trap. As used by the Eskimo it consists of two short pieces of wood, one 
horizontal piece with a bait tied to one end, and a shorter upright stick 
balanced on the outer end of the horizontal stick, with a slab of rock or a 
heavy log resting on the top of the upright stick. When the animal 
wiggles the bait the whole thing falls down on him (Figure 5). 
