CHAPTER XXXIL GROUND 

 VERMIN. 



CAPTURE OF STOATS, POLECATS, WEASELS, AND CATS. 



r~PHE five or six kinds of vermin whose general charac- 

 JL teristics we have considered are in their habits so 

 much alike, that most of the methods employed for the 

 capture of one are more or less suitable for all. Of 

 the means to be adopted there is some little variety, and 

 while never omitting to shoot or kill a varmint, whenever 

 occasion offers, about the only systematic manner in 

 which a continuous and successful check can be put upon 

 their depredations is by traps, and in some cases, snares 

 also. But it may be necessary to remark that there 

 are certain traps the use of which should be avoided, 

 as practically useless, owing to their being so cunningly 

 contrived that the secret of how to get caught in them 

 remains up to the present moment totally undiscovered. 

 Of these we shall take no notice, but will only recommend 

 and describe the manner of employment of such traps 

 as, from personal experience, we know to be of practical 

 worth. 



