t 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
trimming off the lower limbs of the tree I rest it in this crotch so
that the butt end projects some distance and is three or four feet above
the snow. About a foot from the butt 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 butt 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 the