"Ever hear of the pa.s.senger pigeon?" asked Upton.
Alec signified that he never had. "Guess they dinna live in this country," he added.
"I guess they don"t," replied Upton drily. "Fact is they don"t live in any country any more. What is supposed to be the very last specimen died in captivity in Cincinnati last year. A reward of several thousand dollars for proof of a single pair nesting anywhere in America has stood for several years. But the bird is believed to be absolutely extinct.
And yet seventy-five years ago they were numbered by millions and extended over America from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. Probably billions would be nearer the truth. The ornithologist Wilson once watched a flock which he estimated to be a mile wide, moving at the rate of a mile a minute, and it took four hours to pa.s.s. Allowing three birds to each square yard there must have been more than two billion birds in that one flock. In 1869 one town in Michigan shipped to market in forty days almost twelve million birds. They were so plentiful that they sold as low as twelve cents a dozen and netters made money at that. When the first efforts to protect them were made they were fruitless because people said that the numbers were so great that it would be impossible ever to reduce them to a serious extent. And to-day there is not one living. It doesn"t seem possible, but it is a cold, hard fact. And man alone is to blame.
"The same thing is happening right now with a lot of animals and birds.
Just as sure as that fire is burning fifty years will see a lot off them extinct unless they are better protected. The hunters of the pigeon didn"t believe it any more than you believe it about the rats. On the level, Alec, do you think it a square deal to take a rat in the only place he"s got to stay in the winter?"
"Oh, I"m not taking them that way," Alec protested with some haste. "I believe in respecting the law, even if it is a fool law."
"But is it a fool law? I don"t think so," said Walter quietly. "In a boxing match it is a foul to hit a man when he"s down."
""Tisn"t in a lumberman"s fight," Alec broke in. "If a man"s down so much the better. Then you"ve got him. That"s the thing to do--get him down and then do him good."
"Aw say, youse don"t mean that!" Sparrer"s eyes were round with indignation, for even a street gamin has better ethics than this.
"It"s the way they fight up here, Sparrer, I"m sorry to say," said Pat.
"In a rough and tumble fight here they kick, bite and gouge, and you may well pity the under man. But they"re learning better."
"Would you hit a man who was bound and helpless?" asked Walter quickly.
"Certainly not!" cried Alec indignantly. "That"s different."
"Not so very different from your rats in their houses," protested Upton.
"They come pretty near to being helpless. Besides, they have no reason to suspect harm there, and they don"t. Put it up to any Scout and he"d say right off the reel that it is unfair, and that is something that no Scout will stand for. But this is nothing to do with marten. You were saying, Alec, that you trap for marten, mostly."
"Aye," replied Alec, rather glad to have the subject changed, if the truth were known. "And it"s the prettiest and most comfortable kind of trapping in the winter. Ye see the beasties are found in heavy timber and broken country, and that gives the trapper more protection from cold and storms. Then the beasties are no so hard to trap as some others.
When ye find marten sign ye may be pretty sure that the critter will be along there again. They live on mice, rabbits, birds and squirrels. Fish makes good bait. When the snows are not too heavy I build a little cubby, a pen, ye ken, of sticks, at the foot of a big tree, the tree forming the back, and roof it over with evergreen branches to keep out the snow. On a little bed of boughs I set the trap just inside the opening of the cubby and cover it lightly with tips of evergreen. The bait is placed on a stick at the back of the cubby. I hang a couple of boughs partly over the opening so that if Whiskey Jack happens along he won"t see the bait and steal it."
Here Pat interrupted to explain for Sparrer"s benefit that a Whiskey Jack is the common name in the north for the Canada Jay.
"I shouldn"t think the marten could get his peepers on the bait, then,"
said Sparrer.
"He disna need to, laddie," replied Alec. "His nose finds it for him.
Another set which I like and use a good deal is this. I cut a small spruce of about four inches through so as to leave a stump about two feet above the snow. In the top of this I cut a V or crotch, and after tr.i.m.m.i.n.g off the lower limbs of the tree I rest it in this crotch so that the b.u.t.t end projects some distance and is three or four feet above the snow. About a foot from the b.u.t.t end I flatten off a place for the trap and tie it in place with a bit of string and loop the chain around the trunk of the tree. Then I make a split in the end of the b.u.t.t and in this fasten the bait. Mr. Marten runs up the tree to get the bait, steps in the trap and falls off and hangs there. He can"t twist a foot off or pull free in any way. Once he steps in the trap he"s a goner.
"Deadfalls work pretty well with marten. Ye"ll have a chance to see some, as I"ve got some right handy here, in some draws off the Hollow.
Ye"ll understand them better by seeing than by me trying to tell you about them."
"How about otter?" asked Hal.
"Steel traps for them, and we have to be some pertic"lar how we set "em.
There"s nary a critter that I know of more suspicious of man," replied Alec. "In the fall and spring we get "em with water sets. I got one this fall up at one of the beaver dams. I cut a hole in the middle of the dam so that the run-off from the pond was all through this but not enough to lower the pond and bring the beavers to stop up the hole. I made the pa.s.sage only eight or nine inches wide and set the trap in the water at the upper end. The first otter to come along tried to go through that opening and I had him. Sometimes when we find a point of land running out into a lake or big stream we"ll find an otter trail across it where the critter has taken a short cut. Then we set a trap in the water at one end. Water sets are best, because there is no human scent. In the winter we set under the ice, and I"ll show you a couple of sets of that kind before you go back."
"And foxes?" prompted Upton.
Alec grinned. "They"re worse than otter," he confessed. "Ye think ye ken all about the critters, and then ye meet up with one that just gives ye the laugh, like the silver that"s hanging around here. I"ve tried every set I know of for that feller, but he"s still grinning at me. And this crust ain"t going to help matters any. It"s bad enough in dry snow, but with a crust there won"t be anything doing. In the fall I use water sets where I can. One of the best is at a shallow spring, four or five feet across. About a foot and a half from the sh.o.r.e put a moss-covered stone, or a sod, so that it will come just above the level of the water.
Half-way between this and the sh.o.r.e set the trap, covering the jaws, springs and chain with mud or wet leaves from the bottom. The pan should be just under water and on this place a little piece of moss or sod so that it will come an inch above the water. On the outer stone or sod put a small piece of bait and a little scent. Mr. Fox comes along, smells the bait and promptly investigates. He disna like to wet his feet, and the bit of covering on the pan of the trap looks like a good stepping-place. Then you have him.
"Ye must take care to leave everything in a perfectly natural state. I wade up the outlet and take care not to touch the banks. Some trappers boil the traps in hemlock boughs to kill the scent. Others just leave them over night in running water. I wear clean gloves to handle the traps. There are a lot of dry sets, some with bait and some without, the latter being used in frequented runways. A very good set is to find an old moss-covered log or stump and set the trap on the highest point, covering it so that the whole thing looks just as it did before. Then toss a big bait like a muskrat or rabbit eight or ten feet from it. Mr.
Fox is always suspicious, and before he goes too near anything like that he will go to the highest point to look the ground over. That"s when ye get him. Of course, there mustn"t be any other high point for him to get on."
"You spoke of scents, Alec. I"ve read about them. What are they, anyhow?" asked Upton.
For answer, Alec got up and went to a corner of the cabin and brought forth an old fruit jar. Pat grinned. "Here"s some," said Alec simply as he unscrewed the cover while the boys crowded around. They took one whiff and then fairly tumbled over each other to get away.
"Cover it up! Take it away!" howled Hal, holding his nose. "I won"t be able to eat a square meal for a week."
"Me too!" yelped Sparrer. "Dey has some awful smells in New York, but dis is de limit."
"Jumping crickets! I should think that stuff would drive things away and not attract "em!" exclaimed Upton. "What is it, anyhow?"
"Skunk fat and mice cut up and put in the jar and hung in the sun until thoroughly rotted, and then some skunk and muskrat scent added. Sorry you don"t like it," replied Pat. "A drop or two judiciously used seems to be a great attraction for foxes and some other critters. Alec has got another brand if you would like to sample it--fish oil made by cutting up fish and letting them rot in the same way. It"s a mighty good scent."
"No, thanks!" cried Hal hastily. "We"ll take your word for it. What about those stretching boards?"
"I"m coming to that," replied Alec. "Raw furs are handled in two ways, "cased" and "open." Mink, marten, fox, fisher, weasel, muskrat, skunk and bob cat are "cased." That is what these boards are for. We skin "em by cutting loose around the feet and then cutting down the back of the hindlegs to and around the vent and then skin the hindlegs carefully, and also the tail. Then the skin is turned back and stripped off the body wrong side out to the ears, taking as little fat as possible. The ears are cut off close to the head, and the skin is cut loose around the eyes and nose. The easiest way is to hang the critter up by the hindlegs after skinning out these and the tail.
"These small boards Pat and I are making are for muskrats in the spring.
For marten, mink, otter, fisher and such like we use longer, narrower boards; that is, they are narrower in proportion to their length. I"ll show you some presently. The best boards are those with a narrow strip ripped out of the middle for the whole length. This makes a wedge or tongue. Of course it should be tapered. This makes it possible to use the board for various size animals and to stretch the skin to its fullest extent. It also makes it easy to remove a skin from the board, as taking out the wedge at once loosens the whole board.
"The skins are put on the stretchers fur side in. Then with a blunt knife they are fleshed. That is, they are sc.r.a.ped clean of every particle of fat and flesh. Then they are stretched to their fullest extent and put to dry or cure in a cool, airy place. As soon as dry enough to prevent shrinking or wrinkling they are taken from the boards.
Lynx and fox are then turned fur side out, but the others are left as they are.
"Beaver, c.o.o.n, bear, wolf and badger are skinned "open." That means that a cut is made from the point of the jaw straight down the belly to the vent. A cut is made down the inside of the forelegs across the breast to the point of the brisket and another down the back of the hindlegs. Big animals like bars, wolves and wolverines should be skinned out to the ends of their toes and have the feet left on. These skins are stretched flat, a c.o.o.n nearly square, a beaver round, and others to their natural shape. The best way is by lacing them with twine in a frame. Many trappers lose money by careless handling of the furs. All dirt, blood and lumps should be carefully removed. Lots of skins, prime when caught, grade way down because of careless handling. Now I guess you chaps have got your fill of furs. What about to-morrow? It"s Christmas, ye ken."
"That"s so, and it will be the queerest Christmas I ever have spent,"
said Hal thoughtfully. "We ought to celebrate, somehow. What"s the program, Pat?"
"How about a rabbit hunt in the morning, a big dinner and a shooting-match in the afternoon?" replied Pat.
"Bully!" cried all three together.
"What"s the matter with a Christmas tree in the evening?" added Upton.
"We ought to do something Christmasy."
"I was going to suggest that very thing," retorted Hal. "We"ll make it the greatest Christmas this old Hollow ever saw. Now, let"s turn in. I want to be out for those rabbits right early. By the way, Alec, I hope there"s some of that venison left for the big feast."
"Dinna ye worry, laddie. I hae saved a roast special," replied Alec as he prepared things for the night.
CHAPTER XI
CHRISTMAS IN SMUGGLERS" HOLLOW