PRESERVATION 95 



affairs would, of course, be impossible of 

 attainment were our neighbours on every 

 side not equally zealous in extirpation. 



Hedgehogs are dealt with about this 

 time too, an old dog having been trained 

 to hunt them after dark on grass-lands, at 

 which time they are easiest to find, though 

 secure from human foes unless some one 

 with a nose is added to the party. Thus, 

 after steady trapping throughout the year 

 perhaps a trap to every four or five 

 acres is always in use culminating in a 

 regular crusade in the early spring, the 

 end of April finds the enemies of game a 

 negligible quantity and there is one danger 

 the less to be reckoned with. 



Vigilance must, however, not be wholly 

 relaxed ; with May come wandering 

 families of stoats, anxious to settle down 

 where food is plentiful, and there are 

 always other casual nomads of the vermin 

 world to be guarded against. 



The system on which we work in the 

 nesting season is to assist the methods of 

 nature in every way we can, but never to 



