380 Practical Game Preserving. 



two be obtained and strung up by their necks to sticks 

 stuck up in the ground in places where the varmint is likely 

 to discover them, they are sure to be noticed by any passing 

 fox, which will, in all probability, endeavour to obtain the 

 bird and tear it up, or, at least, stop to sniff at it. A trap 

 or two should accordingly be placed in a suitable position 

 under the bait, and, if the choice of site has been well 

 made, a catch will probably result. Of course, it is by no 

 means necessary that a crow be employed, as a magpie or 

 wood pigeon are both suitable for the purpose. 



When the systematic trapping of rabbits is carried on 

 in localities where foxes abound, or even in places in the 

 neighbourhood of fox-frequented coverts, the person trapping 

 is often subjected to great annoyance, put to considerable 

 extra trouble, or suffers sometimes substantial loss owing 

 to the poaching propensities of these vermin. Often, night 

 after night, the conies are so frightened that they scarcely 

 quit the security of their burrows to obtain food, and, 

 as a consequence, very few are captured, or, in other 

 instances, the gins set cunningly enough for accomplishing 

 the bunnies' discomfiture are discovered and drawn by foxes ; 

 while, again, the eventually captured rabbits are mauled, 

 stolen, and eaten to sufficient extent to exasperate any 

 ordinary person. Reynard, moreover, sometimes commits 

 mischief of a fearfully wholesale nature, while on occasion 

 his misdeeds display to wonderful advantage the lively 

 instinct with which he is endowed. A trap set for a rabbit 

 is more likely to be discovered by a fox than if it were 

 tilled with a view of catching the fox itself; and when 

 the varmint has once detected the presence of a gin, 



