Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/89

 /O AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [s. s. f I, 1899

Many additions to the language have been made by the trapper, such as springe, snare, gin, pit-fall, dead-fall, gill-net, noose, enclosure, pound, creel, weir, and others.

There is also an opportunity in this division of the subject to study elaboration or perfection. For instance, among the most primitive people exist forms of driving animals into some sort of a corner, or enclosure, or pit, or body of water, and even fisher- men construct rude fykes and fish traps into which large numbers of fish are driven, and this finally leads to the development of the regular fykes in our rivers.

The net in this connection has a very extensive development. One form of this apparatus was mentioned in the second division of this subject — the method of taking by hand, — that is, the scoop-net ; but the set-net, the gill-net, and the fyke combined gave rise to a great variety of trap structures.

The snare in its simplest form is a noose set in the way of animals that go in trails or paths, but later is manifested by the addition of a spring as in the ordinary rabbit springe of the country boy.

The greatest ingenuity, however, is manifested in the structure of what is generally known as traps. Under this name are in- cluded, on the American continent, stomach springs, closing pen- traps, clutching traps, fall traps, cage traps, empalement traps, and missile traps. These may be divided according to the method of preparing them for their work into man-set, self-set, ever-set, and victim-set.

SEVENTH METHOD OF CAPTURE

The seventh method of taking animals is by the aid or help of other animals, either as decoys to lure the victim to destruction, or, as dogs and other hunting animals, to chase down or kill.

The remora, however, used by the people of the Antilles for taking larger marine animals, is a fish which, by means of a sucker, attaches itself to the prey and is retrieved by means of a line

�� �