PRESERVATION 91 



clearly bespeak their origin to the pro- 

 fessional eye. Besides the common gin, 

 each keeper knows how to use snares, 

 deadfall, and figure -of -four traps on 

 occasion, and has a large 'hugger' trap 

 for the special edification of poaching 

 dogs and cats. Every rabbit hole in the 

 banks and hedgerows, once cleared of its 

 occupants, is carefully filled up, lest it 

 should acquire new tenants or serve to 

 harbour wandering vermin. The use of 

 the gun is not encouraged among the 

 keepers, its employment only being 

 sanctioned where the trap and the spade 

 are useless. 



Vermin money is never allowed, for 

 we hold that it would be working on 

 quite a wrong principle to allow extra 

 pay as if it was for something quite 

 outside his ordinary work for perhaps 

 the most important of a keeper's regular 

 duties. This widespread custom further 

 places a dangerous temptation in a young 

 man's path, and there have been many 

 instances of keepers treating vermin as 



