24 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



had troubled him greatly by too frequent visits to his 

 poultry-run. He decided to attempt to trap it at the 

 bottom of a chalk-pit near by, where the fox went to 

 eat his suppers. Before setting his trap he sacrificed 

 some half-dozen chickens on different days, with a two- 

 fold object : in order to practise throwing a chicken 

 from the top of the chalk-pit so that it should fall 

 exactly where he desired, and in order to cause the fox 

 to expect to find a meal in the pit. One fine day he 

 set his trap. Then he bided his time until his scent 

 should have passed away : and after four or five days 

 he killed another chicken. Making his way to the top 

 of the chalk-pit, he threw the chicken into a bush at 

 the bottom, where the fox could reach it only by 

 treading on the pan of the trap, which it did that 

 night, at the cost of its life. 



February is the month when it is fashionable for 



stoats and weasels to begin courting. The keeper 



finds the trapping of stoats or weasels 



The Time less difficult work than usual in conse- 

 to Cateh a TT . . . , , ,, . . . 



Weasel quence. He maintains that all is fair in 



love, war, and gamekeeping. He relies 

 chiefly on tunnel-traps. The old way was to fix a 

 long, low, narrow box in a likely run a box open at 

 each end, but with shutters which dropped when a 

 pan in the middle of the floor was touched by a 

 weasel's feet ; so the weasel would be caught alive, 

 without injury only, however, to be executed. 



