4 THE GAMEKEEPER AT HOME. 



rat-trap or gin still employed to destroy vermin, but greatly 

 exaggerated in size, so that if stood on end it reaches to 

 the waist, or above. The jaws of this iron wolf are horrible 

 to contemplate — rows of serrated projections, which fit into 

 each other when closed, alternating with spikes a couple of 

 inches long, like tusks. To set the trap you have to stand 

 on the spring — the weight of a man is about sufficient to 

 press it down ; and, to avoid danger to the person prepar- 

 ing this little surprise, a band of iron can be pushed 

 forward to hold the spring while the catch is put into 

 position, and the machine itself is hidden among the bushes 

 or covered with dead leaves. Now touch the pan with a 

 stout walking-stick — the jaws cut it in two in the twinkling 

 of an eye. They seem to snap together with a vicious 

 energy, powerful enough to break the bone of the leg ; 

 and assuredly no man ever got free whose foot was once 

 caught by these terrible teeth. 



The keeper will tell you that it used to be set up in 

 the corner of the gardens and orchard belonging to the 

 great house, and which, in the pre-policemen days, were 

 almost nightly robbed. He thinks there were quite as 

 many such traps set in the gardens just outside the towns 

 as ever there were in the woods and preserves of the 

 country proper. He recollects but one old man (a mole- 

 catcher) who actually had experienced in his youth the 

 sensation of being caught ; he went lame on one foot, the 

 sinews having been cut or divided. The trap could be 



