REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 99 



on a bank, or under a bank or wall ; it has two sides 

 to it like a common box or hutch-trap, and sets with 

 a lever, button, and bridge like the hutch-trap, only, 

 instead of catching alive, the roof of the trap, made 

 of a heavy log of wood, or the roof, weighted with 

 stones, falls in and crushes whatever is beneath it. 

 This trap can be made large enough to kill a dog or 

 cat ; but in a fox-hunting country, of a size only to 

 kill the lesser vermin. 



There is no worse vermin than the common house 

 cat when she takes to hunting, and I have known 

 them go completely wild and breed in the woods. 

 The custom in the farm-house and cottage is, when 

 the hour at night for shutting up comes, to give 

 the cat a kick, and turn her out into the barn-yard 

 or garden, to catch rats, or in fact to shift for her- 

 self. A cat soon finds that leverets and rabbits are 

 not only better eating, but that they do not bite 

 when caught, so, instead of ratting or mousing, she 

 repairs to the preserve of game. While living at the 

 Inn at Cranford Bridge, I knew a cat to bring into 

 the kitchen, one by one, a whole covey of partridges. 

 For cats, the hutch-trap is good, but a steel trap, with 

 the paunch of a rabbit suspended about six inches 

 from the ground against the but of a tree, the trap set 

 within an inch of the bait, so that if a fox came to 

 take it, which is very unlikely, he could do so over the 

 trap without being caught, is the best ; the fence twigs 

 on either side the bait also, though high enough to 

 guide a cat, are so low that a fox would reach over 

 them. To these traps I added the call-boy services of a 

 tame raven used to be chained, as is customary with a 

 mackaw. When fastened out in a field between the 

 woods, within shot of the gun, the raven makes a very 



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