ot travel
much during severe weather, but unless the island happened to be some
distance from the mainland, they would likely swim to shore. Mink would
be at home on an island where there was fish, frogs, etc., with drift
and log piles to wander through, but as they are good swimmers, there
would be nothing gained by starting with this animal on an island.

Skunk and opossum seem to be the only animals that can be safely raised
on an island without the same precaution taken in fencing and enclosing,
as upon the mainland. These two animals, while not the highest priced
furred ones, for various reasons will prove to be as profitable, or more
so, where conditions favor, than many other fur-bearers.

CHAPTER IV.

BOX TRAP TRAPPING.

I was born in Central Pennsylvania and spent the greater part of my
early life among the mountains of that part of our country, writes Mr.
A. C. Williams, a well known trapper. From my early boyhood, I had a
decided liking for the wilder class of literature, and took special
interest in tales of hunting and trapping adventures; but at that time,
did not know that there were many who still followed hunting and
trapping for profit. When I did learn of it, I naturally became even
more interested, and tried to find a partner among my boy friends,
intending, if I could find some person to accompany me, to make an
extended hunting and trapping trip into some one of the wilder portions
of the West or North.

Of course I was no more fitted for such a trip than any other country
boy of the same age, and knew nothing of the wilderness; but being a
boy, and having read so many tales of boy hunters traversing the
wilderness as they would their own back yards, I naturally thought that
life in the forests was a very simple thing, and that there was no
reason why I should not go. As I grew older I learned that there was
still some fur to be found in Pennsylvania, and not only that but that
there were parties who made trapping a business, in season.

I was interested, and decided to try my hand on the fur-bearing animals
found near my own home, before going farther, but I had no traps and
knew nothing about the various sizes and grades; as a consequence, I
sought out one of the trappers that I had heard of, and asked his advice
regarding different traps for the various animals. He gave me the
desired information, very willingly, and also remarked that he had been
very successful in trapping mink