84 COLONEL HANGER TO 



The large brown owl is a very destruc- 

 tive animal to game ; there are very few 

 of them, excepting in woody, mountainous 

 countries. The best method of destroying 

 them is to look for their nests in the spring, 

 and destroy both young and old. I am of 

 opinion, that the grey owl, which lives in 

 the barns, Uves chiefly on mice, and is not 

 destructive to game. 



A cat which quits the stables and farm-yard 



is a most destructive animal to game. There 



is a large wood in Dorsetshire, of several 



hundred acres, and not a village within three 



miles of it, except one, about a quarter 

 cat^destvoy ^j' g^ j^^jj^ f^^^^ j^ . ^j-^^ i^j,^ ^f |.j^g mauor 



lets the cottagers their houses scarcely at 

 any rent, with this stipulation, that they 

 do not keep a cat. The gamekeeper as- 

 sured me, that, in one year, he destroyed, 

 young and old, above three hundred, A cat 

 is very easily caught : bait the bridge of the 

 trap with a piece of red herring; strew a 

 little valerian powder on the trap : a cat, 

 when it smells the valerian, will lie down, 

 and roll on the trap. You may draw all the 

 cats in a street together with valerian pow- 



