This trap is constructed after the idea of the old-fashioned box
or rabbit trap, and has been the means of securing many a hungry
bear, or even puma, whose voracity has exceeded its cunning. The
lynx and wild-cat are also among its occasional victims; and inasmuch
as its prisoners are taken alive great sport is often realized
before the captive is brought under control.

Our illustration gives a very clear idea of the affair. The sides
are built of stout young tree-trunks, cut into sections and firmly
driven into the ground close together. For a large animal,--a bear,
for instance,--the enclosure should be about seven feet deep, two
and a half feet wide, and four feet high. The top should be built
in with the sides, after the manner of the log cabin, described
in page (244.) The two posts at the entrance should be first set
up. On the back side of each, near the end, a deep notch should be
cut for the reception of the cross piece at the top. This should
likewise be notched in a similar manner on both sides of each end,
so as to fit singly into the notches in the uprights on the one
side, and into the second pair of uprights
[Page 30]
on the other. These latter should next be inserted firmly into
the ground, having been previously notched on both sides of their
upper ends, as described for the cross piece. They may either be
fixed in place and the cross piece sprung in between them at the
top, or the latter may be held in the notches of the first pair,
while the second are being inserted. Continue thus until the full
length of the sides are reached, when the end may be closed by
an upright wall of plain logs, either hammered into the ground,
after the manner of the sides, or arranged one above another in
notches between the two end uprights. The sliding door is next