in the position seen in the drawing, and the loose ends of the
sucker wire should then be passed downward through the small holes
and arranged in nooses at both openings of the box. Our trap is
now set, and the unlucky creature which attempts to move that bait
from either approach, will bring its career to an untimely end.
The bait stick may be so delicately adjusted as to need only the
slightest touch to dislodge it. Such a fine setting is to be guarded
against, however, being as likely to be sprung by a mouse as by
a larger animal. The setting is easily regulated, being entirely
dependent upon the slight or firm insertion of the bait stick.
Among all the "modi operandi" in the construction of traps, there
is scarcely one more simple than the principle embodied in this
variety, and there is none more effective.

The box snare already described may be set by the same method,
and indeed the principle may be applied to almost any trap, from
the simplest snare described on page (52) to the largest dead-fall.

* * * * *


GROUND SNARES.

THE OLD-FASHIONED SPRINGLE.

[Illustration]

This is the variety of snare which has been in very common use
for ages, and has always been the one solitary example of a noose
trap which our "boys' books" have invariably pounced upon for