r means. Wolves
are naturally sly and sagacious, and have a wholesome fear of a
trap. Any unnatural arrangement of logs and stones immediately
excites their suspicion, and the trapper takes advantage of this
wary peculiarity to good purpose. Laying his dead game near some
fallen tree or old log he strews a few branches over the carcass,
or perhaps rests a log over it. Sometimes he hangs the entrails of
the animal over the body, on a forked stick, anyone of which devices
is said to have the desired result. The wolverine is another pest to
the trapper, and not being so sly as the wolf, never hesitates to
pounce upon any flesh within its reach. The former method, therefore,
is always the safest plan for absolute protection against all animals.

The moose and deer are the favorite food of trappers in the country
where these animals abound, and the trappers of the Far West find
in the flesh of the Moufflon, or Rocky Mountain sheep, a delicacy
which they consider superior to the finest venison. The prong-horn
antelope of the Western plains is another favorite food-animal
with hunters, and the various "small game," such as squirrels,
rabbits, woodchucks, etc., are by no means to be despised. The
author once knew a trapper who was loud in his praises of "skunk
meat" for food, and many hunters can testify to its agreeable flavor
when properly dressed and cooked. It is hard, to be sure, to getup
much enthusiasm over a skunk, dead or alive, but where other food
is not to be had we would discourage the young trapper from being
too fastidious.

The buffalo, or bison, is the great resource of the trappers of the
West. The tongue, tenderloin and brisket are generally preferred,
but all the meat is eatable. The flesh of the cow is best. It much
resembles beef, but has a more gamey flavor. In winged game there
is no food superior to the flesh of the grouse, and the great number
of the species and wide range of territory which they inhabit render
them the universal food game of trappers throughout the world. The
ruffed grouse or partridge, pinnated grouse or prairie hen, spruce
or Canada grouse, and the cock-of-the-plains or sage cock, are
familiar American examples of the family, and their near relatives,
the ptarmigans, afford a valuable source of food to the trappers
and hunters, as well as general inhabitants of our northern cold
countries. Here they are known as "snow grouse," and there are
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several species. The willow