TRAPS AND TRAPPING. 409 



requires that, each part shall be carefully adapted to the 

 others, but when the trap is seen set, it will be readily under- 

 stood, practice being, however, required to set it properly. 

 I quite agree with " High Elms" that the footed upright is an 

 improvement, but I am inclined to doubt the advantage of 

 the double notch between the upright and stretcher. I have 

 tried both, and I cannot find that there is any great superiority 

 in his plan, but perhaps, though I have exactly followed his 

 directions as given in the Field, I may have omitted some 

 point of practical importance. In setting the figure of 4 

 trap, the height of the upright and the size and weight of 

 the stone will be proportioned to the animal for which it is 

 set. I do not like the trap myself, as it cannot be concealed 

 so well as the steel trap, and in deed has no advantage except 

 its cheapness. Dozens of them may be set in the woods, and 

 if stolen, little harm is done, as the cost is barely a penny 

 a piece, if made in large numbers. I have also known 

 pheasants caught by the head and killed in them, the flesh 

 with which they are baited being often attractive to tame- 

 bred birds, which usually are fed with more or less of it in 

 their rearing. 



A very complicated weasel-trap was described in the Field 

 of the 29th of May, 1858, by " High Elms," as having been 

 recently invented by him. Like the last, it acts by suffoca- 

 tion, but instead of the force of gravity a spring is used. As, 

 however, the inventor is about to publish a little brochure on. 

 vermin trapping, I will not poach on his manor by minutely 

 describing it here. 



The various kinds of vermin are best trapped as follows : 

 Cats and martens are readily caught in the steel-trap set as 

 follows : get some thorns and plant them so as to leave a 

 vacant space of about a yard in diameter, with two entrances 

 to it just wide enough to admit the vermin. In these set 

 the steel trap in the mode described at page 404, so as to be 

 made perfectly invisible either by grass or leaves. Then, in 

 the centre of the open space fasten a live pigeon, chicken, or 

 any other bird, by tying it to a peg with a short string, or 

 if a live bird is not procurable use a dead rabbit, but in the 

 latter case a trail must be laid up to it. The living bait 

 will struggle or move sufficiently to attract the notice of the 



