4994 THE ZooLocist—Juty, 1876. 
many days an animal so tenacious of life as the cat would live suffering all 
the agonies of broken limbs, thirst and starvation. This lingering death is 
not so apt to happen to the dog, as he will make known his whereabouts by 
his cries, which he will utter almost without intermission, and very painful 
it is to hear the cries of a dog under such circumstances. The method 
adopted by some trappers for catching birds, such as hawks, owls, crows, 
magpies, &c., is rather a refinement in point of cruelty compared with the 
plan already mentioned. Birds of this description are apt to alight on 
posts placed in fields and other open places, and it is the custom to place 
on these posts steel traps of a circular form, so that any bird alighting on 
them is immediately caught by the legs. Here, as usual, the limbs of the 
. bird are smashed, and the trap, being attached to the top of the post by a 
short cord or chain, the bird hangs suspended by the broken legs, head 
downwards, and so remains until it flutters itself to death or is killed by the 
trapper. As these creatures are of no value, of course these traps are not 
visited with any regularity. Other birds besides these mentioned often get 
into such traps—that is to say, rooks, jackdaws, woodpeckers and smaller 
birds, such as thrushes, blackbirds, starlings and others. Some animals, 
such as weasels, stoats, otters, polecats, rats and foxes, sometimes get out of 
steel traps by biting off their feet; it is hardly possible to imagine the 
agony of such an operation. Jats suffer for a shorter time in gins than 
other animals, as the gins are naturally more frequently visited, being in 
the near neighbourhood of houses and barns. Hedgehogs, being very short 
in the legs, are often caught by the belly as well as the legs, and in this 
state are found alive in the traps. Being held in the jagged teeth of a steel 
trap in such a way must be fearfully painful. This animal—the most harm- 
less and inoffensive creature in existence—it seems hard to punish in this 
manner. Sometimes rat-gins are baited and used to catch blackbirds and 
thrushes. Birds that are fortunate are caught by the head, and immediately 
killed, while others less so get their beaks cut off, and escape to die of 
starvation. These cruelties go on in every parish in England, and in my 
opinion some measures should be taken to stop them, and I am sure that 
many humane persons would forbid the use of such instruments on their 
estates could other means be devised of catching the animals required to be 
caught or destroyed. The matter under any circumstances seems worthy 
of consideration. As my statement may not be credited by some not 
acquainted with the details of trapping, any one can prove them by accom- 
panying a trapper a few times in his rounds, and if after that he still 
advocates the use of steel traps, | should feel much surprised. I may add 
that the use of steel traps is totally unnecessary, as other means exist equally 
certain of taking any animals required in a merciful and humane manner, 
either by immediately destroying them, or catching them alive, without pain 
or injury.—F’rom the ‘ Western Morning News.’ 
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