FEBRUARY. 49 



We have met him in copses and hazel-shaded 

 lanes, cutting springs for his traps, and we not 

 only love him, and look upon him as one of the 

 legitimate objects of rural scenery, but have 

 often found him a quiet but shrewd observer of 

 nature, and capable of enriching us with many 

 fragments of knowledge. In the winter by his 

 fire he makes his traps. These are very simple 

 machines, which almost any one may construct. 

 We have made and set many a one ourselves, 

 and have been up by the earliest dawn of day 

 to discover their success. Many moles may be 

 caught in one place, if the trap be judiciously 

 set in a main burrow. It is better near a 

 hedge, or in a plantation, than in the middle of 

 a field, where it is liable to be disturbed by 

 cattle. A strong hazel stick for the spring, 

 two pieces of brass wire, a little string, a few 

 hooked pegs, and a top made of the half of a 

 piece of willow pole, about six inches long and 

 three in diameter, hollowed out, are all the 

 requisites for a mole-trap, 



RURAL OCCUPATIONS. 



Thrashing, tending cattle, early lambs, calves, 

 etc. continue, as in last month, to occupy the 

 E 



