406 Practical Game Preserving. 



ferreting are the only means to alleviate or put a stop to 

 the mischief. 



When it is desirable to extirpate rats which have adopted 

 a hedge for their abode, they can, if the holes of entrance 

 and egress be discovered, be trapped by using a small sized 

 gin at each hole. The setting of the gins must, of course, 

 be carefully effected in accordance with instructions which 

 we shall presently give. Or, on the other hand, ferreting 

 can in such cases be resorted to with beneficial results, two 

 or three good dogs and active ferrets being necessary. We 

 need, however, scarcely enter into any details as to how 

 to proceed either in this instance or when the rats are by 

 the water side, whether of ponds, ditches, or streams. 



Before proceeding to discuss the relative qualities of 

 the various rat traps which can be employed to advantage, 

 we must call further attention to the great powers of scent 

 possessed by the rat, and, moreover, the aptitude with 

 which it takes alarm at anything in the least strange or 

 unobserved by it before, but above all, the fear it betrays 

 of anything giving evidence of having been lately handled 

 by human beings. It is thus evident that not only is it 

 necessary to disguise any scent left through handling traps, 

 or from their lying adjacent to anything unknown to the 

 vermin, but the scent of the hands, when setting the traps, 

 should be replaced by some odour sufficient to destroy the 

 other, and at the same time enticing and agreeable ; boots, 

 too, should be redolent of the same, so as to lure to the 

 traps and gins. 



Various substances can be employed for the purpose with 

 advantage, especially scents of some kind, always strong, 



