334 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



smaller kinds of hawk. You will catch more 

 sparrow hawks in these nets than in any other 

 way, except at the poles and nest traps. The 

 net should be at least twenty inches off the 

 ground so as to allow hares, pheasants, and 

 above all your dog, who generally accompanies 

 you on your rounds, to pass under it. 



I have written about snaring vermin chiefly 

 for keepers having fox hunting masters, who 

 will not allow them to set traps in the open ; 

 such keepers must kill their vermin as best 

 they can, the same as I had to do when I lived 

 with a real fox rearer in Wiltshire. 



I have always looked upon gin- traps as cruel 

 things, and it is a pity their use is not pro- 

 hibited, but if they must be used they should 

 be placed under a cover, for the small vermin, 

 and should be kept in perfect order, springing 

 light, sharp, and high. I have seen a ferret 

 spring a slow trap without injuring itself, but 

 only fancy the fearful torture a poor dumb 

 brute endures when caught by the leg in one 

 of those " infernal machines," lingering on 

 perhaps for hours, through the carelessness of 



