TRAPS. -, e 



that supported Cardinal de Retz in his exile, — the faculty 

 of "luxuriating on recollections." In Europe, where 

 new preserves have often to be stocked with game-birds, 

 hundreds of partridges are sometimes caught alive by 

 the following simple device. Near the haunts of the 

 game a brush-hedge with an opening here and there is 

 set across a field, and on either side of the transit-holes 

 the trapper fastens a wire noose. No bait is needed : 

 partridges never fly over a hedge if they can crawl 

 through, their motive being probably their general reluc- 

 tance to betray their whereabouts by taking wing in an 

 open field. Hunted conies, as well as rats and mice, are 

 likewise almost sure to make for the next hole, incurring 

 any risks for the sake of momentary concealment. In 

 chasing a rat about a room, much trouble can be saved 

 by twisting an old newspaper in the form of a sugar-loaf 

 bag and placing it on the floor alongside of the wall. If 

 the outlaw can be induced to approach it from the open 

 side, he will dash in with a squeak of delight and can be 

 captured before he discovers that his harbor of refuge 

 has been blockaded. 



Fear, however, is not the only motive of this mania 

 for shelter-places. Of all animals, rodents are the most 

 domestic. More than bees and swallows, and far more 

 than man himself, they love to have " a roof overhead." 

 They are fond of building a house within a house. The 

 dryest corner of a dry-goods box in a snug old garret is 

 the favorite dwelling-place of a house-rat, and even a 



