58 EEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE. 



threshing is on, and also to go hunting and 

 ferreting round the corn and wheat fields, and 

 I think many sporting gentlemen who have 

 not seen such sport would indulge in it freely 

 after they had once witnessed it. I think it 

 is much better and healthier sport than rabbit- 

 shooting, especially in the summer when the 

 farmers are cutting their corn and wheat. 



When catching Bats as a regular pursuit, 

 one is surprised at the queer places in which 

 he finds them. I recollect ferreting seven full- 

 sized Eats from under the floor of a built dog 

 kennel not above four yards square, where a 

 large mastiff and a terrier dog slept every 

 night, only a f-inch board dividing them from 

 the Eats, and the Eats having eaten holes 

 through the boards in the kennel ! I have also 

 found at an out-house an old bitch Eat and 

 nine young ones in an old tin trunk without a 

 lid. I have also caught Eats and taken young 

 ones out -of the nest from under railway sleepers 

 where trains have been running and shunting 

 operations carried on every day. And I have 

 even taken old and young ones in their nest 

 from a pile of Cheshire cheese, at a wholesale 

 cheese and bacon factor's ! 



And mentioning cheese in this connection 

 reminds me that once I discovered that Eats 

 had scratched and eaten a hole direct through 



