ing logs or stones on the border of the streams where the
"signs" of the animal indicate its recent presence. The trap should
of course be secured by a chain, ringed to a sliding pole, page
145, which will lead the animal into deep water when captured,
and thus effect its speedy death by drowning. In this case bait is
not necessary. If their feeding grounds can be discovered, or if
their tracks indicate any particular spot where they crawl ashore
at the water's edge, at this point a trap may be set with good
success. In this instance it is well also to set it under water,
baiting with a piece of turnip, parsnip, apple, or the like, suspended
a few inches above the pan of the trap. Late in the fall, when
collecting their building material, they often form large beds of
dried grasses and sticks, and a trap set in these beds and covered
with some loose substance, such as grass, chaff, or the like, will
often secure the animal. The trap, in this case should be attached
to a spring-pole, page 145 as the muskrat is a wonderful adept
at self-amputation, when its escape depends upon it.

The trap is sometimes set in the interior of the house, and may
be accomplished by first breaking an opening in the wall, near
the ice, the trap being inserted and set, afterwards covering it
with the loose grass and moss, which is generally abundant in the
interior of these huts. When this is done, the chain should be
secured to a stick on the outside, and the hole repaired. No spring
or sliding-pole is necessary in this method, as the animal when
caught will immediately run for the water, and the weight of the
trap will sink and drown its prisoner.

Scent baits are sometimes used in trapping the muskrat, the
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musk taken from the female animal being particularly valued. The
Oils of Rhodium and Amber, page 151 are also successfully employed
by many trappers; a few drops of either in the neighborhood of
the trap, or directly upon it, being sufficient.

Although steel traps are most generally used, there are several
other devices which are equally if not even _more_ desirable. Chief
among these is the barrel trap, commonly and successfully employed
in many parts of New England, where these animals often exist in
such numbers as to render their destruction a matter of necessity.

The above trap consists merely of an old barrel, sunk to its upper
edge in the river bank, and about half filled with water. On the
surface of the water a