Ground Vermin Snares for Wild Cats. 317 



of the piece, and fit it neatly, to be large enough for a 

 cat's head to go through, and, at the same time, of slightly 

 smaller circumference than the hole in the hedge-row. 

 The cat, in trying to reach to rub itself against the valerian, 

 gets caught round the neck in the snare, and when it 

 pulls back hangs itself. Further, the employment of the 

 snare may be resorted to in cases where a hedgerow, 

 forming the boundary of a plantation or wood, has on 

 its outside a rabbit run along it, or, failing this, a fairly 

 even track. Place a dead rabbit, pegged down, upon 

 the ground ; lay a snare upon each side, and place in a 

 line with the run and at the side of the rabbit two 

 bushes of briar, thorn, or something similar, so as to 

 form a passage, as it were, to the rabbit. In the same 

 manner snares may be employed upon the tops of hedges 

 for cats, and by employing valerian again at the roots 

 of trees ; rub the valerian upon the tree, and set two or 

 three snares about I2in. out on different sides. From 

 these base spots it will be easy enough to determine 

 where to set a snare for cats, and it must be left to one's 

 own intelligence to select the most eligible and likely 

 places. 



The capture of vermin in and about poultry houses we 

 have purposely left over until now, in order to prevent 

 confusion. Besides rats, of which we shall treat in a 

 future chapter, polecats, stoats, weasels, and cats may 

 at any time obtain entrance to what is apparently the 

 most secure run or house that can be obtained, and 

 seemingly the vermin will often enter those which 

 apparently offer no chance of ingress, while perhaps 



