ain, he discovered that the hole
was again open. Thinking that the newly added mud had merely fallen
out, he thrust his arm into the hole to reach for the trap, when
without the slightest warning some animal seized him by the finger. It
was a mink that had been raiding the house; and in the excitement that
followed, the brute escaped. The hunter, however, made little of his
injury; chewing up a quid of tobacco, he placed it over the wound and
bound it securely with a rag torn from the tail of his shirt.

Oo-koo-hoo explained that in winter time, when there was little snow,
he often speared muskrats through the ice. The spear point is usually
made of quarter-inch iron wire and attached to a seven-foot shaft.
Much of the spearing he did at the rats' feeding and airing
places--those little dome-shaped affairs made of reeds and mud that
cover their water-holes. The hunter, enabled by the clearness of the
ice, followed their runways and traced them to where the little fellows
often sat inside their shelters. Knowing that the south side of the
shelter is the thinnest side, The Owl would drive in his spear and
impale the little dweller.

HUNTING THE OTTER

That afternoon Oo-koo-hoo set a number of traps for otter. When placed
on land otter traps are set as for fox, though of course of a larger
size, and the same statement applies to deadfalls; while the bait used
for both kinds of otter traps is the same as that used for mink. The
otter is an unusually playful, graceful, active, and powerful animal;
but when caught in a trap becomes exceedingly vicious, and the hunter
must take care lest he be severely bitten. Oo-koo-hoo told me that on
one occasion, when he was hunting otters, he lost his favourite dog.
The dog was holding an otter prisoner in a rocky pocket where the water
was shallow, and the otter, waiting to attack the dog when off guard,
at last got its chance, seized its adversary by the throat, and that
was the end of the dog.

The otter is not only easily tamed, but makes a charming pet, as many a
trader has proved; and it is one of the few animals that actually
indulge in a sport or game for the sheer sake of the thrill it affords.
Thus the otter is much given to the Canadian sports of tobogganing and
"shooting the chute," but it does it without sled or canoe; and at all
seasons of the year it may be seen sharing its favourite
slide--sometimes fifty or a hundred feet in length--with its
companions. I