5 o OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



has been ferreted, rats will not enter it, it oc- 

 curred to me that this fact must, of course, be 

 due in a great measure to the scent of the ferrets. 

 I therefore procured some litter from a hutch in 

 which ferrets were kept, and had it pushed as 

 far as possible into every rat-hole we could find, 

 afterwards closing up the holes with any suitable 

 substance at hand. This plan had the desired 

 effect, and for nearly two years not a single rat 

 attempted to invade the premises. 



The foregoing is a simple remedy. There was 

 no smell whatever apparent from the litter, but 

 had there been such it would have been far 

 preferable to the annoyance and damage caused 

 by the rats. I had previously tried the effect of 

 poison, but the result was too dreadful for me to 

 desire to repeat the performance, as the rats, dying 

 behind the wainscots and panellings of the rooms, 

 necessitated our leaving the house for a time. 



I only wonder that this remedy which suggested 

 itself to me is not generally adopted. It is 

 doubtless satisfactory to destroy all the rats which 

 may infest one's premises, but since ' prevention 

 is better than cure,' it is surely far more so to 

 keep them away altogether. 



It is to be regretted that martens are becoming 

 so scarce in England, for although it cannot be 

 denied that they are excessively mischievous and 

 dire poachers, they are such beautiful little animals 

 that we can ill afford to spare them altogether. 

 They are now rare, except in the wilder districts 



