Chapter IX: Bird-Catching with Traps, Etc (2)

The proper materials for stuffing out skins will depend much upon the size of the animal. For small birds and quadrupeds, cotton will be found most convenient; for the larger, tow; for those still larger, dry grass, straw, sawdust, bran, or other vegetable substances, may be used. Whatever substance be used, care must be taken to have it perfectly dry. Under no circumstances should animal matter, as hair, wool, or feathers, be employed.

The bills and loral region, as well as the legs and feet of birds, and the ears, lips and toes of mammals, may, as most exposed to the ravages of insects, be washed with an alcoholic solution of strychnine applied with a brush to the dried skin; this will be an almost certain safeguard against injury.

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FISHING WITH NATURAL FLY.--This consists in fishing with the natural flies, grasshoppers, etc., which are found on the banks of the rivers or lakes where you are fishing. It is practiced with a long rod, running tackle, and fine line. When learning this system of angling, begin by fishing close under the banks, gradually increasing your distance until you can throw your live bait across the stream, screening yourself behind a tree, a bush, or a cluster of weeds, otherwise you will not have the satisfaction of lifting a single fish out of the water. In rivers where immense quantities of weeds grow in the summer, so as almost to check the current, you must fish where the stream runs most rapidly, taking care that in throwing your line into those parts you do not entangle it among the weeds. Draw out only as much line as will let the fly touch the surface, and if the wind is at your back it will be of no material service to you in carrying the fly lightly over the water. In such places the water is generally still, and your bait must, if possible, be dropped with no more noise than the living fly would make if it fell into the water.

Keep the top of your rod a little elevated, and frequently raise and depress it and move it to and fro very gently, in order that the fly by its shifting about may deceive the fish and tempt them to make a bite. The instant your bait is taken, strike smartly, and if the fish is not so large as to overstrain and snap your tackle, haul it out immediately, as you may scare away many while trying to secure one. There are very many baits which may be used with success in natural fly fishing, of which, however, we shall content ourselves with enumerating some of the most usual and useful.

Wasps, hornets and bumble bees are esteemed good baits for dace, eels, roach, bream and chub; they should be dried in an oven over the fire, and if not overdone, they will keep a long while.

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HOW TO SELECT FURS.--In purchasing furs, a sure test of what dealers call a “prime” fur is the length and density of the down next the skin; this can be readily determined by blowing a brisk current of air from the mouth against the set of fur. If the fibers open readily, exposing the skin to the view, reject the article; but if the down is so dense that the breath cannot penetrate it, or at most shows but a small portion of the skin, the article may be accepted.

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TO CLEAN FURS.--Strip the fur articles of their stuffing and binding, and lay them as much as possible in a flat position. They must then be subjected to a very brisk brushing, with a stiff clothes brush; after that, any moth-eaten parts must be cut out, and be neatly replaced by new bits of fur to match. Sable, chinchilla, squirrel, fitch, etc., should be treated as follows: Warm a quantity of new bran in a pan, taking care that it does not burn, to prevent which it must be actively stirred. When well warmed, rub it thoroughly into the fur with the hand. Repeat this two or three times; then shake the fur, and give it another sharp brushing until free from dust. White furs, ermine, etc., may be cleaned as follows: Lay the fur on the table, and rub it well with bran made moist with warm water; rub until quite dry, and afterward with dry bran. The wet bran should be put on with flannel, and the dry with a piece of book-muslin.

The light furs, in addition to the above, should be well rubbed with magnesia, or a piece of book-muslin after the bran process. Furs are usually much improved by stretching, which may be managed as follows: to a pint of soft water add three ounces of salt; dissolve; with this solution sponge the inside of the skin (taking care not to wet the fur) until it becomes thoroughly saturated; then lay it carefully on a board with the fur side downward, in its natural disposition, then stretch as much as it will bear, to the required shape, and fasten with small tacks. The drying may be quickened by placing the skin a little distance from the fire or stove.

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FISHING WITH ARTIFICIAL FLY.--Artificial fly fishing consists in the use of imitations of these flies and of other fancy flies, and is unquestionably the most scientific mode of angling, requiring great tact and practice to make the flies with neatness and to use them successfully, and calling forth as it does so much more skill than the ordinary method of bottom fishing, it merits its superior reputation.

It possesses many advantages over bottom fishing, but at the same time it has its disadvantages; it is much more cleanly in its preparations, inasmuch as it does not require the angler to grub for clay and work up a quantity of ground baits, and is not so toilsome in its practice, for the only encumbrances which the fly fisher has are simply a light rod, a book of flies and whatever fish he may chance to catch; but there are several kinds of fish which will not rise at a fly, and even those that do will not be lured from their quiet retreat during very wet or cold weather. It would be well if the young angler could go out for some little time with an old experienced hand, to observe and imitate his movements as closely as possible.

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TO PREPARE SHEEP SKINS FOR MATS.--Make a strong lather with hot water and let it stand till cold; wash the fresh skin in it, carefully squeezing out all the dirt from the wool; wash it in cold water till all the soap is taken out. Dissolve a pound each of salt and alum in two gallons of hot water, and put the skin into a tub sufficient to cover it; let it soak for twelve hours, and hang it over a pole to drain. When well drained stretch it carefully on a board to dry, and stretch several times while drying. Before it is quite dry, sprinkle on the flesh side one ounce each of finely pulverized alum and saltpetre, rubbing it in well.

Try if the wool be firm on the skin; if not, let it remain a day or two, then rub again with alum; fold the flesh sides together and hang in the shade for two or three days, turning them over each day till quite dry. Scrape the flesh side with a blunt knife, and rub it with pumice or rotten stone.

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TO TAN SHEEP SKINS.--Sheep skins, which are used for a variety of purposes, such as gloves, book-covers, etc., and which when dyed, are converted into mock Morocco leather, are dressed as follows: They are first to be soaked in water and handled, to separate all impurities, which may be scraped off by a blunt knife on a beam. They are then to be hung up in a close, warm room to putrefy. This putrefaction loosens the wool, and causes the exudation of an oily and slimy matter, all which are to be removed by the knife. The skins are now to be steeped in milk of lime, to harden and thicken; here they remain for 1 month or 6 weeks, according to circumstances, and when taken out, they are to be smoothed on the fleshy side with a sharp knife. They are now to be steeped in a bath of bran and water, where they undergo a partial fermentation, and become thinner in their substance.

The skins, which are now called pelts, are to be immersed in a solution of alum and common salt in water; in the proportion of 120 skins to three pounds of alum and five pounds of salt. They are to be much agitated in this compound saline bath, in order to become firm and tough. From this bath they are to be removed to another, composed of bran and water, where they remain until quite pliant by a slight fermentation. To give their upper surface a gloss, they are to be trodden in a wooden tub, with a solution of yolks of eggs in water, previously well beaten up. When this solution has become transparent, it is a proof that the skins have absorbed the glazing matter. The pelt may now be said to be converted into leather, which is to be drained from moisture, hung upon hooks in a warm apartment to dry, and smoothed over with warm hand-irons.

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TO TRAP YOUNG MINK.--MINK BREEDING.--Adult minks are almost untamable, but young ones readily submit to handling, and are easily domesticated. The time to secure young minks is in May and June, when they begin to run with their dams. The streams must be quietly watched for mink trails, and these tracked to the nest.

When they leave the hole the old one may be shot, and the young ones secured, or they may be dug out. Those who own a breeding stock of minks ask high prices for them; but trappers represent to us that it is an easy matter to get the wild young ones. _Habits._--A successful breeder says that he does not attempt to tame the wild mink, but only aims to supply for it in a small space all the necessities of its natural instincts. He says the mating season commences about the first of March, and lasts two weeks, never varying much from that date.

The female carries her young about six weeks. In the minkery, where diet, water, temperature, etc., are similar with each animal, there is so little difference in the time of mating and time of bearing young in different animals, that five out of six litters dropped last spring, were born within twelve hours of each other. The young are blind from four to five weeks, but are very active, and playful as kittens. The mother weans them at from eight to ten weeks old. At four weeks the mother begins to feed them meat; this they learn to suck before they have teeth to eat it.

The nests in which the young are born are lined by the mother with some soft material, and are made in the hollow of some old stump, or between the projecting roots of some old tree, and always where it is perfectly dry. The nest is located near pure running water, which the mother visits twice every twenty-four hours. She feeds her young on frogs, fish, birds, mice, crabs, etc., etc. The mink is from birth a pattern of neatness and cleanliness, and as soon as a nest begins to get foul and offensive, she takes one of the young in her mouth, and depositing it in a clean, suitable place, builds a nest about it, and then brings the balance of the litter. She feeds and cares for them until they are three and a half or four months old. When the young are weaned, about the 10th of July, she builds her nest near the water, in which the young soon learn to play. There are usually four in a litter, though the number ranges from two to six. Towards fall the mother separates them into pairs. One pair--or if the number be odd, the odd one--is left in the nest; the other pair or pairs, she places them often half a mile from each other, and then seeks new quarters for herself.

The young soon separate, and each one catches his own frogs, etc. They do not pair, but the male is a sort of rover and free-lover. Minks are unsociable, petulant, vicious in play, savage in war. Late in the fall they establish regular runaways from one stream to another, and usually under brush-fallen trees, weeds swale, and under banks--anywhere, in fact, where they can avoid the sunshine, and escape the chances of observation. The mink is a sure prophet, and just before hard winter begins, he lays by a store of food for the winter in safe places near his winter nests, of which he has several. As the snows fall he burrows under the snow, where he remains until about February, when his supply of food is exhausted, and he is forced to seek further for food.

* * * * *

MANAGEMENT OF.--Mink being by nature solitary, wandering creatures, being seldom seen in company except during the breeding season, are, therefore, impossible to be reared successfully, if large numbers are kept constantly together, therefore their inclosure should be a large one.

The male and female should be permitted to be together frequently from the middle of February until the middle of March. At all other times keep them entirely separate. The young mink make their appearance about the first of May. When wild in the woods they will seldom vary five days from this time, but when kept in confinement there is greater variation. About this season they should have plenty of fine hay, which they will carry into their boxes to make nests. A box three or four feet long and eighteen inches wide is the shape they prefer. It should be placed as far as possible from the water to prevent the mink from carrying water and mud into it.

The young mink when first born are small and delicate, destitute of any kind of fur, and much resembling young rats. If the old mink is tame the young ones may be taken out of the nest and handled when they are three weeks old. They will soon learn to drink milk, and may feed every day. At five weeks old they may be taken from the mother and put into a pen by themselves, when they will soon become very playful and pretty, and make much better mothers than they would if allowed to run with the old ones.

The shelter should be in the shape of a long box, 5 or 6 feet wide, and 3 or 4 feet high, set upon legs, and with a good floor and roof. Divide it into separate compartments, 6 feet long (or longer would be better,) the front of each apartment to be furnished with a swinging door of strong wire screen, with the hinges at the top, and a button or some kind of fastener at the bottom. A trough 6 inches square, made by nailing three boards together, should run the whole length of the pen on the back side; one end of the trough should be made several inches lower than the other, so that the water can be drawn off. With this arrangement, the water can be turned in at one end of the trough, and drawn off and changed as often as desired. The lower end of the trough should be a little deeper than the other, to prevent the water from running over. Each apartment is furnished with a box 3 feet long and eighteen inches wide. On one side of the box and near one end is made a round hole, 2-1/2 inches in diameter, and provided with a sliding cover so that by means of a stick it can be opened or closed from the outside.

This is so the mink can be shut up when the pen is being cleaned out. On the top of the box and at the other end should be a door large enough to put in hay for the nest and take out the young. It is necessary that they have abundance of pure, soft water, fresh air, desirable shade and plenty of exercise. These conditions secure to the mink a good quality of dark fur and good health. Brush, weeds, etc., are allowed to grow in the yard, but not near enough the wall to admit of their climbing up and out.

In addition to the above directions for breeding mink, we give the following experience of a gentleman in Vermont: “I purchased one female and her litter of five, two males and four females in all, and constructed a building of rough boards, 10 by 4 feet, for a minkery. It had a floor tight enough to prevent the escape of the animals, was properly ventilated, and divided into six apartments, one of which is an ante-room in which to step from the outside and close the door. Water is supplied by a lead pipe running in at one side through all the rooms, and out at the other into a trough where small fish are kept, and occasionally given to the minks.

“They were kept together until December the 18th, when the males were put in an apartment by themselves. On the 10th of March each male was put in with a female, each pair separate, and after a couple of days, one of the males was put in with another female, and finally with the third. They were separated about the 1st of April, each female being kept alone and supplied with a suitable box, with warm material for a nest. When it was supposed they were about to bring forth their young, they were disturbed as little as possible; anything to excite them at this time, should be avoided, for when irritated, they will sometimes eat their young. The first female put with the perfect male, brought forth seven, one of which disappeared after they began to crawl around out of their nest. The other two females had each a pair, all of which (but the one mentioned) are now alive, fine, fat, sleek fellows, and fully grown. They are very easily kept, being fed once a day upon warm milk with wheat bread crumbs--a quart sufficing for the whole lot, and once upon fresh meat, care being taken not to over-feed.

“Any kind of meat and offal that is not too fat will answer. They are very fond of beef liver, chickens’ heads and entrails, woodchucks (being careful not to give them the gall or the liver, which is poisonous), rats, mice, etc. They are more easily cared for than one hog and much more cheaply kept. Nothing was paid out for meat for them until after 1st July, when a contract was made with a butcher to leave a bullock’s head once a week. I am confident that the increase of the minkery would have been fully one-third more if both the males had been perfect. I intend to keep them in pairs hereafter. They are not easily handled, but struggle when caught against their will and exude the thick fetid substance from glands near the vent. They will bite severely, but can be handled safely with thick buckskin gloves.”

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Transcriber’s note:

Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are mentioned.

Punctuation has been made consistent.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

Changes have been made as follows:

The notation 1 2 for fractions has been changed to 1/2.

p. 11: muste la changed to mustela (invest _mustela vulgaris_)

p. 30: 5 changed to 6 [(Fig. 6). The]

p. 39: Fig. 6 referenced here does not exist.