LURES AND CHARMS 91 



many rats he would destroy many but if few he 

 would take good care to leave behind him some fine 

 specimens for stock. No doubt the oils and pre- 

 parations invented by himself, or handed down to 

 him by his ancestors, would not only attract rats for 

 his catching, but would attract others after he had 

 gone, so that his trade was kept alive. Thus, perhaps, 

 arose the old saying that if you kill one rat twelve 

 friends will come to its funeral. Oils are still used 

 as lures by the fish-poacher, and also by the game- 

 keeper. To draw rats into his traps the keeper 

 sprinkles them with the sweet-scented oil of rhodium- 

 wood and oil of aniseed. To attract cats he uses 

 tincture of valerian ; the essences in the root of that 

 plant having so great a charm for cats that it will 

 draw them from far and near. To attract stoats 

 and weasels he uses oil of musk. To entice a fox, a 

 dead cat is one of the best lures : many a fox, to our 

 knowledge, has owed its death to an over-keenness 

 in unearthing a cat that had been shot and lightly 

 buried. We have heard that dog-stealers induce 

 dogs to follow them by carrying a piece of wart 

 from a horse's leg we know a simpler plan. The 

 keeper's woodcraft teaches him many ways to charm 

 wild creatures to their destruction. A common trick 

 to bring rabbits from their holes is to imitate the 

 squeal of a rabbit in fear, by applying the lips to the 

 back of the hand, and producing a tremulous sucking 

 sound. Possibly the rabbits think that a brother 

 is in distress, and come to see from curiosity. 



