be seen to stop at the surface of the water for fresh oxygen, as already described.  The bubbles will soon appear, and if the hunter immediately strikes with an axe or heavy stick directly on the spot, the submerged animal will be literally driven away from its breath, and will of course drown in a very few minutes.  A short search will soon reveal the dead creature, after which he may be taken out through a hole cut in the ice.  Otter and mink are sometimes taken in the same way.  In many localities great numbers of muskrats are also captured by spearing, either through the ice or through the walls of their houses.  In the latter case, two are often taken at once.  This method is quite uncertain and unreliable, as the walls of the hut are often so firmly frozen as to defy the thrust of the hardest steel, and a fruitless attempt will drive the inmates from their house at once.  The spear generally used consists of a single shaft of steel about eighteen inches in length and half an inch in diameter, barbed at the point, and is feruled to a [Page 184] solid handle five feet long.  In spearing through the hut the south side is generally selected, as being more exposed to the heat of the sun.  Great caution is necessary, as the slightest noise will drive out the inmates.  The spear should be thrust in a slanting direction, a few inches above the surface of the ice.  Where many houses exist it is well to destroy all but one.  Into this the whole tribe will centre, and by successive spearing they may all be captured.  When the spear has been thrust into the house, it must be thus left until a hole is cut with a hatchet, through which to remove the game.  Spearing through the ice is a better method, but for general service there is no means of capture more desirable than by trapping.  The steel trap No. 1 or 2 is the size particularly adapted for the muskrat, and may be set in various ways.  The most common method is to set the trap under two inches of water on the projecting 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.