WAY TO DESTROY VERMIN. 115 



or cats, in order to contain more bait this should be added 

 to without being removed when it taints, as the greater the 

 scent the better the chance. Traps set for foxes should never 

 be made fast, or they are apt to gnaw the leg off: the best 

 plan is to tie two or three together ; for if the fox can drag 

 them, however great the difficulty, he will not attempt the 

 desperate remedy of amputating his leg. When they have 

 litters, the old ones may be taken ; but it requires great 

 judgment to select the spot they would be most likely to walk 

 over in going to and from their young : a first-rate trapper, 

 however, will generally secure one or both. It is the more 

 difficult, as the traps must be set at some distance, or the 

 young ones would be apt to stumble into them. As only 

 single traps are set, they should be tied to a stone just large 

 enough for the fox to drag with some trouble. The keeper 

 should always sprinkle a little water over the top covering of 

 the trap to take off the scent of his fingers. 



I do not give publicity to these modes of destroying foxes, 

 with any design to their being followed in the Lowlands, 

 where the gentlemen of the " View halloo !" would give me 

 small thanks. I only write for the preservation of the High- 

 land game and lambs ; and am sure that if my plan was 

 vigorously followed up, we should not be infested with half 

 so many foxes as we are, " fox-hunter " and all ! This, I 

 believe it never will be, the fun of a Highland fox-hunt being 

 so popular among the farmers as to overbalance the merits of 

 any other system requiring trouble, dexterity, and patience.* 



* I lately saw in the newspapers a plan for extirpating foxes in the Highlands. 

 Each hill farmer was to keep a couple of fox-hounds, a good greyhound, besides 



