The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1882-06-28
TrAps.

MAN mas Deen called toOl-mak1ne
animal, and the first tool was probably
a trap. do not believe that our primo.
genitors we're carnivorous. Long be-
fore they began to covet flesh they
probably hankered after eggs and milk,
and had to devise means for catching
the creatures to supply these. They
had no need of elaborate contrivances.
Experience makes savages the best
hunters, and it alone can explain their
success in capturing animals whose cum
ming de6es the best inventions of the
amateur sportsman. With the simplest
of all imaginable traps-an elastic stick
with moose the Patagonian nomads
catch hares, foxes, wolves and the shyest
of al American quadrupeds the noun
tain vicuna. Won Tschudi made the
acquaintance of Chilian farmer who
had passed several years in the Andes
before he succeeded in capturing live
vicuna He had initiated the traps Of
the Indians, their method of fixing
them in the sand in the river-banks,
their precaution in obliterating the
traces of their footsteps, but all in vain,
till an Indian renegade revealed the
secret-namely, that the vicunas in-
variably select their drinking-places
where there is an audible ripple in the
current of the perhaps for the
same reason that COWS prefer brook to
a bond, and running spring to a slug
gish creek. The murmuring of the
stream seemed to suggest the idea of
purer and cooler water and where the
current was slow the Indians contrived
to prod1ce ripple by an artificial OBJ
struction.
Nearly every animal has some pecu-
liarity or other that may be utilized for
its capture Minks have queer fashion
for rummaging pile of dry leaves, aud
the wild turkey can be taken in an open
trap, because, for some reason, the idea
of going backward never suggests itself
to his mind. A Kentucky "turkey. pen"
is simply ditch with roof of logs
and ending in cul de-sac, but open at
the other end. To this opening the
turkeys are alluled by "sprinklings" of
corn or cranberries, and, entering the
ditch where the bait is scattered more
literally, they follow it till they reach
the ne plus ultra end ; and it is de-
cided fact that such half.captives will
poke around their pen for weeks without
discovering the means of exit.
The female puma has a marvellous
talent for hiding her lair, but the trap
per knows enough if he discovers a
place where she has torn her prey, for
to that place she will return again and
again, even after the carcass has been
gnawed into a smooth skeleton. Jack
ais, too, are fond of revisiting the
scenes of their former revels ; some ami
mails would seem to be endowed with
the gift that supported Cardinal de Rstz
in his exile-the faculty of luxuriating
ON recollections. In Europe where
new preserves have often to be stocked
with game birds, hundreds of partridges
are sometimes caught alive by the fol-
lowing simple device Near the haunts
of the game brush.edgs with an open
ing here and there is set across field,
and on either side of the transit-holes
the trapper fastens Il wire moose. No
bait is needed par,ridg9s never fly over
q hedge If they can crawl through, their
motive being probably their general re-
luctance 10 botrag their whereabouts by
taking wing in an open field. Hunted
comics, as we'll as rats and mice, are
likewise almost sure to make for tho
next hole, incurring any risks for the
sake of momentary concealment. In
chasing rat about a room, much trouble
can be saved by twisting an old news
paper in the firm of sugar-loaf bag
and placing it on the floor alongside the
wall If the outlaw eau be induced to
approach it from the open side, he will
dash in with a squeak of delight and
can be captured befoI he discovers thai
his harbor of refuge has been block
AIDED. -LippincOtL