nd the shadows
lengthen. We sit on a log in a small clearing where we can watch the
upper branches of a splendid tree. It is the home of a great colony of
red-bellied squirrels (_Callosciurus erythraeus_ subsp.) and after a
few moments of silence we see a flash of brown along a branch, my gun
roars out, and there is a thud upon the ground.

Yvette runs to find the animal and ere the echoes have died away in the
forest the gun bangs again. We have already shot a dozen squirrels from
this tree and yet more are there. Sometimes a tiny, striped chipmunk
(_Tamiops macclellandi_ subsp.) will appear on the lower branches,
searching the bark for grubs, and after he falls we have a long hunt to
find him in the brown leaves. When it is too dark to see the squirrels,
we wander slowly back to camp and eat a dinner of delicious broiled
deer steak in front of the fire; over the coffee we smoke and talk of
the day's hunting until it is time to "run the traps."

Of all the work we enjoy this most. With lanterns and a gun we pick our
way among the trees until we strike the trail along which the traps are
set. On the soft ground our feet are noiseless and, extinguishing the
lanterns, we sit on a log to listen to the night sounds. The woods are
full of life. Almost beside us there is a patter of tiny feet and a
scurry among the dry leaves; a muntjac barks hoarsely on the opposite
hillside, and a fox yelps behind us in the forest. Suddenly there is a
sharp snap, a muffled squeal, and a trap a few yards away has done its
work. Even in the tree tops the night life is active. Dead twigs drop
to the ground with an unnatural noise, and soft-winged owls show black
against the sky as they flit across an opening in the branches.

We light the lanterns again and pass down the trail into a cuplike
hollow. Here there are a dozen traps and already half of them are full.
In one is a tiny brown shrew caught by the tail as he ran across the
trap; another holds a veritable treasure, and at my exclamation of
delight Yvette runs up excitedly. It is a rare Insectivore of the genus
_Hylomys_ and possibly a species new to science. We examine it beside
the lantern, wrap it carefully in paper, and drop it into a pocket by
itself.

The next bit of cotton clings to a bush above a mossy log. The trap is
gone and for ten minut