duck net.—­Its Use in Chesapeake Bay.—­Manner of Constructing the Net.—­Decoy Ducks.—­Bait for the Ducks.—­The hook trap.—­Its cruel Mode of Capture.—­Peculiar Bait for Ducks.—­The “Fool’s cap” Trap.—­Its Successful Use in the Capture of the Crow.—­Shrewdness of the Crow.—­Strange antics of a Crow when Captured in the Trap.—­Bird Lime the Secret of its Success.—­Wonderful Tenacity of the Cap.—­Different Modes of Setting.—­Bird lime Described.—­Its astonishing “Sticky” Qualities.—­The Bird Lime of the Trade.—­Various “Home-Made” Recipes.—­Manner of Using Bird Lime.—­Limed Twigs.—­The Owl Used as a Decoy in connection with Bird Lime.—­Bird Lime used in the Capture of the Humming Bird.—­A Flower Converted into a Trap.—­Masticated Wheat as Bird Lime.—­Its Ready Removal from the Feathers.—­Delicate Organization of the Humming Bird.—­Killed by Fright.—­Use of its Plumage.—­Snares for the Humming Bird.—­Blow Guns Successfully Used for its Capture.—­Killed by Concussion.—­Disabled by a Stream of Water.

[Page v] book iv.

Miscellaneous traps.

The common box trap.—­Two Modes of Setting.—­Animals for which it is Adapted.—­A Modification of the Trap.—­Another box trap.—­The figure four trap.—­Its Advantages.—­The double ender.—­A Favorite Trap in New England.—­Simplicity of Construction.—­The Rabbit’s Fondness for Salt.—­Its Use as a Bait.—­The self setting trap.—­Animals for which it is adapted.—­The dead fall.—­Various Methods of Construction.—­Animals for which it is usually Set.—­Remarkable Cunning of some Animals.—­The Precautions which it Necessitates.—­Bait for the Muskrat.—­Various Baits for the Mink.—­Skunk Baits.—­A Fox Entrapped by a Dead Fall.—­Slight Modification in the Arrangement of Pieces.—­Live Duck used as Bait.—­Another Arrangement for the Dead Fall.—­Trap Sprung by the Foot of the Animal.—­The figure four trap.—­Applied to the Dead Fall.—­The garotte.—­Its Singular Mode of Capture.—­Its Common Victims.—­The bow trap.—­An oddity of the Trap Kind.—­Its Singular mechanism.—­The mole trap.—­A Much-needed Contrivance.—­Subterranean Mode of Setting.—­Its Unfailing Success.—­A fish trap.—­A Section of Stove Pipe used as a Trap.—­Its Various Victims.—­Adjustment of the Bait.—­Curious Mode of Capture.

BOOK V.

Household traps.