Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-02-03

ferent from anything I had over heard
before, and not like one | expected to
hear.
lew steps further and something
jumped at me, coming the fun length of
the Chain, and dropped to the ground,
where it rolled and spluttered and Kissed
in very disconccrtlng way. I seized
CLUB that lay at my feet, and the nest
time it jumped struck with all my
force hitting it suuaroly over the head
and it fell to the ground stunned. After
II had received two or three moro blows
ON the head 1T lay dead at my feet
Upon examination ] found it to he
one of the animals most dreaded by all
trappers, a Canada lynx, rarely found
| in this part of the country, but | sup
pose it strayed away from its haunts
! 1t was as large as a small dog and had
beautiful silky hair and tassels on his
cars, which characterize this species of
| the great cat family.
SKUNK is a BLUNDERER.
"rhc skunk is hlundcrcr, and, like
all other blundcrers, he always does the
most unexpected things. Probably the
best bait for him is chicken uffal Even
/ though he goes for vegetables and many
insects. he is especially fond of chicken
and prefers the offal to the meat His
natural home is i'm rough, stony Coun-
, try. especially if oyergrown with weeds
or brush.
Along hedge fences are good places
! for the setting of traps Unlike all
! other animals, this one does not seem
to fear the nearness of human habita-
! ton and will locate it's burrow under Il
house in a barn or shed and even
around piles of hay or straw When
dcns are In the open, as rule they
will he found near or at the top of Il
| hill.
Another animal which is very annoy
| Ing to the farmer or chicken raiser is
the weasel. In warm weather his fur is
gray and useless. but in cold weather it
turns perfectly white except the tip of
the tail which is gray.
Just now the fur is beautiful and
sells for a good price. being used for
shoe tops and the borders of dresses and
suits. Only an expert can distinguish
the perfect weasel from ermine The
weasel is wary and very quick. lie can
| also dodge the jaws of a steel trap. The
old saying that he is capable of putting
! his head out of two holes at once fire.
Quenty seems almost verified
whenever | find an otter slide ! set
three or four traps. They have very
keen scent and sometimes they dodge
one trap and get into another.
! STEEL AND FIGURE FOUR TRAPS.
| II commonly use two types Of traps
! The familiar steel trap and the old-ume
! figure four. The steel trap is sometimes
/ it closes SO the animal escapes The
! figure four allows a log or the stones
| to fall upon the animal and crush it
/ without injuring the fur, 1t is made by
setting M three sticks in the form of "a
printed figure four with the bait ON thc
under stick. Animals as large us
bears We're caught in this way before
the steel trap was invented. Large ones
We're formerly called dead falls.
zone other. a snare used for trapping
rabbits and similar animals is made by
bending over a Saping and attaching It
| cord to it. making the outer end into Il
moose. which is laid fiat on tile ground
The sapling is held down ny a second
cord attached TO q figure four. The re-
lease of this cord allows the sapling to
straightcn and the rabbit is caught in
tho nuos" ''--IroNdcncc journal