Night-glass.--Opera-glasses are invaluable as night-glasses, for, by their aid, the sight of man is raised nearly to a par with that of night-roving animals; therefore, a sportsman would find them of great service when watching for game at night. A small and inexpensive glass is as useful for this purpose as a large one; but there is a considerable difference between the clearness of different opera-glasses.
OTHER MEANS OF CAPTURING GAME.
General Remarks.--A trapper will never succeed, unless he thoroughly enters into the habits of life and mind of wild animals. He must ever bear in mind how suspicious they are; how quickly their eye is caught by unusual traces; and, lastly, how strong and enduring a taint is left by the human touch. Our own senses do not make us aware of what it is disagreeable enough to acknowledge, that the whole species of man yields a powerful and wide-spreading emanation, that is utterly disgusting and repulsive to every animal in its wild state. It requires some experience to realise this fact: a man must frequently have watched the heads of a herd of far distant animals, tossed up in alarm the moment that they catch his wind; he must have observed the tracks of animals--how, when they crossed his path of the preceding day, the beast that made the tracks has stopped, scrutinised, and shunned it--before he can believe what a Yahoo he is among the brute creation. No cleanliness of the individual seems to diminish this remarkable odour: indeed, the more civilised the man, the more subtle does it appear to be; the touch of a game-keeper scares less than that of the master, and the touch of a negro or bushman less than that of a traveller from Europe.
If a novice thinks he will trap successfully by such artless endeavours as putting a bait on the plate of a trap that is covered over with moss, or by digging a pitfall in the middle of a wild beast's track, he is utterly mistaken. The bait Should be thrown on the ground, and the trap placed on the way to it; then the animal's mind, being fixed on the meat, takes less heed of the footpath. Or a pitfall should be made near the main path; this being subsequently stopped by boughs, causes the animal to walk in the bushes, and to tumble into the covered hole. The slightest thing diverts an animal's step: watch a wild beast's path across a forest --little twigs and tufts of grass will be seen to have changed its course, and caused it to curve. It is in trifles of this sort that the trapper should look for auxiliaries. After setting traps, Mr. St. John recommends the use of a small branch of a tree; first, to smooth the ground, and then, having dipped it in water, to sprinkle the place: this entirely obliterates all foot-marks.
Springes.--General Remarks.--Harden the wood of which the mechanism has to be made, by means of fire; either baking it in hot sand or ashes, or otherwise applying heat to a degree just short of charring its surface. The mechanism will then retain the sharpness of its edges under a continuance of pressure, and during many hours of wet weather. The slighter the strain on the springe, the more delicately can its mechanism be set.
Nooses.--Catgut (which see) makes better nooses than string, because it is stiff enough to keep in shape when set: brass wife that has been heated red-hot, is excellent; for it has no tendency whatever to twist, and yet is perfectly pliable. Fish-hooks are sometimes attached to springes; sometimes a tree is bent down and a strong cord is used for the noose, by which large animals are strangled up in the air, as leopards are in Abyssinia. A noose may be set in any place where there is a run; it can be kept spread out, by thin rushes or twigs set crosswise in it. If the animal it is set for can gnaw, a heavy stone should be loosely propped up, which the animal in its struggles may set free, and by the weight of which it may be hung up and strangled. It is a very convenient plan for a traveller who has not time to look for runs, to make little hedges across a creek, or at right angles to a clump of trees, and to set his snares in gaps left in these artificial hedges. On the same principle, artificial islands of piles and faggots Are commonly made in lakes that are destitute of any real ones, in order that they may become a resort of wild-fowl.
Javelins.--Heavy poisoned javelins, hung over elephant and hippopotamus paths, and dropped on a catch being touched, after the manner of a springe, are used generally in Africa. They sometimes consist of a "sharp little assegai, or spike, most thoroughly poisoned, and stuck firmly into the end of a heavy block of thornwood, about four feet long and five inches in diameter. This formidable affair is suspended over the centre of a sea-cow path, at about thirty feet from the ground, by a bark cord, which passes over a high branch of a tree, and thence, by a peg, on one side of a path beneath." (Gordon Cumming.)
Trigger.--Where a trigger has to release a strong spring, an arrangement on the principle of a figure of 4 trap is, I believe, the most delicate; the standard may be a branch or the stock of a tree; and the other pieces should be hardened by fire.
Pitfalls.--Very small pitfalls, with sharpened stakes, planted inside them, that have been baked hard by the fire and well poisoned, are easily to be set, but they are very dangerous to man and beast. In preparing a pitfall for animals of prey, it is usual to ascertain whether they are deep enough, by putting in a large dog; if he cannot get out, it is very unlikely that any wild beast can. (See "Trous de loup," p. 312.)