206 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



and sprung by a trigger, baited or unbaited, as seems best 

 under different circumstances. (See Plates VI. and VII.) These 

 traps are as humane as any, for (if set with circumspection) they 

 usually catch the rat by the head, neck or back, killing it imme- 

 diately. Occasionally, however, a rat will be caught by the leg, 

 and will go off with the trap. For this reason all snap traps when 

 set should be fastened to some heavy object or to the building 

 by wire or cord. Sometimes the trap wdll be found sprung, 

 but ratless. In such a case a mouse may be the culprit, and 

 the trap, being too large for mice, springs over and past it. 

 Sometimes the rat, coming in from the back of the trap, is 

 missed or thrown off by the spring, and other times he is hit 

 on the head by the trap but not held, and may be found dead 

 not far away. A rat catcher explains this by the assertion 

 that certain ''wise old rats" reach in from the front or side and 

 spring the trap by a quick side cuff, getting away as the trap 

 springs, and that occasionally one is not quick enough and is 

 caught by the fore paw or hit on the head. I am inclined to 

 doubt this explanation. 



Probably the metal trap (Plate VII., Fig. 2) is best, as it is 

 durable and will not absorb and retain odors so readily as will 

 the wooden traps. This trap and the similar wood and wire 

 trap (Plate VI., Fig. 2, lower left) may best be set in a very 

 dark place or corner, behind some box or chest, as it is imprac- 

 ticable to conceal it. The wooden-backed trap is effective, as 

 the rat cannot enter it from the back and so avoid the wire. 

 If either of these upright traps is set with the back too close 

 to the wall the wire release will strike the wall when the trap 

 springs, throwing the trap forward, but it usually gets the rat. 



The flat trap (Plate VI., Fig. 2, upper figures), which can 

 be obtained for ten cents at the five and ten cent stores, 

 is not quite so strongly made as the others, and occasionally 

 a large rat will get out of it, but it may be relied upon to 

 clear a house or store of rats if sufficient numbers are prop- 

 erly baited, set and concealed, and if the rats are deprived of 

 food other than that furnished them at the traps. This trap 

 may be easily disguised and hidden, but it has the disadvan- 

 tage that the rat may come and get the bait from the back, 

 and may thus escape the blow of the trap either by crawling 



