90 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 

 damage. A cunning, rascally cub-stealer of our 

 acquaintance was employed by none other than the 

 local M.F.H. He was a shepherd, and nothing pleased 

 him better than to hear that foxes were plentiful 

 when hounds came his way. He knew that in the 

 spring he would reap many pounds by cub-snatching, 

 and with small risk of rousing suspicion. But one 

 spring morning he was caught in the very act of cub- 

 snatching, and then he ceased to be that Master's 

 shepherd. 



The old-fashioned professional rat-catcher is seen 

 as rarely as the mole-catcher, with his rude traps of 



wood, wire and string, actuated by a spring 

 Lures o f green wood from the hedgerow. And 

 Charms w ^ ^ e rat-catcher have passed the 



secrets of his calling how, when and where 

 to use oils and essences to attract rats to their doom. 

 He knew how to handle rats alive with his naked 

 hands, and the trick of squeezing the life from their 

 bodies. The experienced take rats by the back of 

 the throat, but unless the grip is made in just the 

 right way a dangerous bite may be received. The 

 safest plan for the inexperienced is to take live rats by 

 the tip end of their tails ; then they are helpless, since 

 their own weight keeps their heads down. Mice, 

 treated in this way, would curl up and nip their 

 captor's fingers in a twinkling. He was a deep 

 character, the old rat-catcher. If there were 



