98 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. 



chance, so no one need be a professional rat- 

 catcher in order to handle the ferret to advan- 

 tage. They can be used by anybody. There are 

 boys in every neighborhood who could take a 

 pair of ferrets and enjoy the sport of hunting 

 rats. The best place to work ferrets the first 

 time is under the plank floors of stables or hog 

 pens. In such places there are usually a large 

 number of rats, and the ferrets will get them 

 started in short time. Ferrets can follow rats 

 anywhere, and after they have hunted a few 

 times, they will work harder and hunt in small 

 holes and more difficult places. 



To hunt rats it is a good plan to get several 

 men with clubs to kill the rats which escape 

 from the ferrets. Guns are often used, but in 

 the excitement a ferret may be mistaken for a rat 

 and killed. Then liberate the ferret or ferrets 

 where the rats have been working. Ferrets hunt 

 by scent, and upon smelling the rats they will 

 soon enter the holes. Then watch out. The rats 

 will run in all directions and the person quickest 

 with the club will get the most rats. A rat will 

 not show fight unless a ferret gets it cornered. 

 A ferret soon learns to hold on a rat, and will 

 kill them as fast as it can get to them. Ferrets 

 work under and around a building. When they 

 come out hunting for the rats, pick them up and 



