the brush and moaned a bit, while little 
boy whimpered up in his tree, afraid to 
come down. It would have been a 
very easy matter to capture the cub, 
but a picture “at home” was far more 
desirable. 
Lioyp E. THORPE, 
Council Bluffs, Iowa. 
How Reynard got caught 
Nature’s Own Trap 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
AM enclosing herewith a photo so 
unusual that I consider it quite 
worthy to be reproduced in your publi- 
cation so that my fellow-sportsmen in- 
terested in wild life may see a bit of 
what is unusually unseen. This picture 
was taken last fall and shows how a fox, 
while apparently in the act of spring- 
ing for the bird’s nest, became caught 
by his right forepaw in the fork of the 
sapling. Mr. Fox could not extricate 
himself and anything within reach of 
his free paw showed evidence of a 
hard struggle. His right foreleg was 
broken just below the fork of the tree 
and this was done either in the fall 
when he became trapped or in the sub- 
sequent struggle. 
It was impossible to chew his leg 
free as he could not get at it, being 
suspended just a few inches from the 
ground. It is certainly a picture with a 
meaning back of it. It would be inter- 
esting to know the opinion of sportsmen 
who are familiar with the habits of 
the fox to find out if they have ever run 
162 

across anything of this nature and 
whether or not the fox actually did at- 
tempt to jump for the bird’s nest when 
it was caught in such an unusual man- 
ner. This seems to be the most obvious 
explanation. 
The distance from the ground to the 
bird’s nest cannot be judged very well 
from the picture but we estimated it 
to be about nine and one-half feet. It 
is quite likely the disastrous leap of 
the old fellow was made during the 
resting season as he was badly decom- 
posed, although the fur was in good 
condition and Mr. Fox looked as natu- 
ral as though it had just happened. 
This is a true picture of “wild life at 
work” and is just a peep at the work- 
ings of the habits of the creatures of 
forest and field, on which we spend 
years of study and then only learn a 
little. The wary fox, and wise, comes 
to an untimely end in the act of get- 
ting his meal. Truly it might be called 
“nature’s own trap.” 
ARTHUR J. NOEL, 
Portage, Pa. 
Believes Porky Should Be 
Protected 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
NOTE in the December issue of the 
magazine, that we (meaning Mr. 
Shaw and myself) have started an 
argument. I note that we have a friend 
who disagrees with us, in, that porky 
should be protected. 
Miss Soule states that the unwritten 
law of the Maine woods is to extermin- 
ate porky. She also asks how often a 
man gets lost without a gun, etc. 
To begin with, there are a good many 
cases besides the loss of firearms that 
would make one mighty glad to meet a 
porky and obtain a square meal. 
We will start with Miss Soule’s 
state. I have been in New England, 
lived in Malden, Mass., for a period of 
two years, and visited the woods around 
Montpellier, Vt., quite frequently and 
am very well acquainted with the sort 
of country that the state of Maine is 
composed of. I have spent a few years 
in northern Wisconsin, which is much 
the same as Maine. 
The point that I am trying to bring 
out is this: Maine is mostly level coun- 
try, that is, there are no such cliffs and 
hills as one finds in Alaska. I am going 
to get some pictures in the near future, 
a print of which I shall mail to ForEST 
AND STREAM, showing the surrounding 
country here. 
In answer to Miss Soule’s question, 
“How often does one get lost in the 
woods without a gun?” 
you are miles from 
exhausted, gun 
An instance: 
camp, ammunition 
broken beyond immediate repair, or, no 
game available and you are very hungry 
and growing more hungry. Would not 
a ‘porky’ look good just about that 
time? 
Here is another example, more likely 
to occur in Alaska, or in any other 
mountainous country. We go out on a 
long hunting trip in the mountains, 
while traversing a large slide, or climb- 
ing around the rim of one of these 
craters, one of which I can see by 
merely looking out the window before 
me. I accidently drop my gun, it clat- 
ters to the ground a couple of thou- 
sand feet below, a place impossible to 
reach. I am then unarmed, all I have 
to do is to descend to the timber, and I 
will find it very easy to obtain a porky. 
Of course if I am but a few miles away 
from camp, and do not get lost enroute, 
I can survive until I reach camp. 
Miss Soule also mentioned something 
about a man coming in to camp with his 
dog, whose nose was completely filled 
with quills. I have two dogs that no 
amount of money can buy from me. 
They have both come in several times 
with their noses filled. I am hoping 
that they will get wise to themselves 
eventually and leave the porky alone. 
However, they are both enjoying the 
best of health despite these encounters 
with friend porky. 
I have been told by an “old timer” 
of three incidents where the porky was 
a life saver. 
G. R. McVICKER, 
Mile Seven, Alaska. 
Interesting Traits Revealed by 
Pet Mink 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
HE woodland tragedy described by 
W. M. Graffius in the January For- 
EST AND STREAM is further testimony 
to the relentless pursuit of prey by 
members of the weasel family. In this 
connection I am reminded of an inci- 
dent a couple of years ago on my 
country place at Stamford, Conn. 
I had always wondered how a mink 
could catch rabbits. The mink cannot 
make the swift dash that is made by a 
fox from behind some object of con- 
cealment. He can make a lightning-like 
scamper “quick as a weasel’ for a short 
distance but cannot chase a rabbit with 
the flying leaps of a fox. An explana- 
tion came one day while I was stand- 
ing not far from a bridge crossing the 
stream on my grounds. All at once a 
rabbit came bounding out of the brush 
from a distance, ran down the path, 
across the bridge and into another 
brush patch with tremendous leaps, 
acting as though the devil himself were 
after him. I could not imagine what 
had given the rabbit such a fright as 
