140 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



the trap was set in ( the run,' partially sunk in 

 the soft mud and concealed with a few leaves. 

 The simplicity and portability of the gin still 

 render it a favourite with all neophyte poachers ; 

 and, except in a more delicate and refined style 

 of workmanship, there seems to have been but 

 little improvement of late years in its manufac- 

 ture. I have seen a very ancient one, the con- 

 struction of which was nearly similar to, and 

 the principle identical with, the modern rat trap, 

 which, under various trifling modifications, has, 

 even in our own days, been contrived to capture 

 every animal of moderate size, from a man to a 

 mouse. 



The partiality of the woodcock to certain 

 feeding places which would appear not to possess 

 any unusual attractions for him, and the perti- 

 nacity with which he regularly pursues the same 

 path, are very remarkable. When quite a boy, 

 I once availed myself of this habit to catch a 

 woodcock, which I fondly imagined I could suc- 

 cessfully rear in confinement. The scene was 

 in a small dell of birch and alder. A common 

 box trap, such as is used for taking rats and 

 stoats or weasels alive, was the instrument that 

 1 thought most likely to suit my purpose. This 

 I placed exactly in the middle of the run, where 

 the tracks and perforations were most numerous, 



