i82 The Ii-LUStkated Book of Poiu.try. 



lie makes splashing about in the water appears to attract rather than warn the others. We would 

 only cmplo)' poison when all other means failed, not merely for humanity, but to avoid any danger 

 to the chickens. The best poison is the following, recommended by Dr. Ure to the Council of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society: — "Melt hog's lard in a bottle plunged in water heated to about 150 

 degrees of Fahrenheit ; introduce into it half an ounce of phosphorus for every pound of lard, then 

 add a pint of proof spirit or whiskey ; cork the bottle firmly after its contents have been heated to 

 150 degrees, taking it at the same time out of the water, and agitate smartly till the phosphorus 

 becomes uniformly diffused, forming a milky-looking liquid. This liquid, being cooled, will afford 

 a white compound of phosphorus and lard, from which the spirit spontaneousl}' separates, and may 

 be poured off to be used again, for none of it enters into the combination ; but it merely ser\-es to 

 communite the phosphorus, and diffuse it in very fine particles through the lard. This compound, 

 on being warmed very gently, may be poured out into a mixture of wheat flour and sugar, 

 incorporated therewith, and then flavoured with oil of rhodium, or oil of aniseed, &c. This dough 

 being made into pellets, is to be laid in rat-holes. By its luminousness in the dark it attracts 

 their notice, and being agreeable to their palates and noses it is readily eaten, and proves 

 certainly fatal." 



Weasels and similar vermin onlj' give trouble in \-ery rural neighbourhoods. They generally 

 come in a regular track, and may be caught in traps, baited with dead birds or chickens. They do 

 not, like rats, care much for oil of rhodium ; but the Avhole tribe are fond of musk, and the bait 

 may be scented with this to great advantage. 



Mice do no harm to chickens or eggs, though we have had houses so swarming with them 

 that they would run out from under broody hens when examined at night. They however 

 undermine the floor, and eat a gi'eat deal of the food. A good cat is the best preventive, and if 

 brought up from kittenhood amongst the chickens may be left to pass the night with them with 

 perfect safety. One of the best traps we know of is a plain sheet iron or tin vessel, about two feet 

 deep, and open at the top. If one or two of these are put in the most over-run places, with some 

 barley in the bottom, the mice will enter to feed, and are unable to jump or climb out of the 

 smooth prison again. We have thus used one of the tins or iron barrels, holding about two 

 bushels, in which paint is often sold, and caught seven or eight in one night. We confess, however, 

 we never had the heart to be very hard upon mice, they have a knack of getting so tame. We 

 have had them come out and feed within a yard of us in broad daylight ; and it is very hard 

 to kill creatures that behave in such a confiding manner. 



Minks and S/cKuks are 'very destructive to poultry in America. The mink is pretty easily 

 captured, as it is the nature of this animal always to return for its prey, and if missing to hunt 

 about for it. If, therefore, a mink have left a chicken, and that be used for the bait of a trap 

 set near the place, a capture is all but certain. The best trap is that known as the regular 

 " mink-trap " in the United States. Skunks, on the contrary, after visiting a place may not 

 again go near it for a long time, and the only effectual plan of trapping them is to set the 

 trap near their burrows. Mr. Hungerford states, in the Rural Neiv Yorker, that he has found 

 one of the best skunk-traps to be a common barrel, nearly balancing it on its side in the middle, on 

 a piece of wood about seven inches high, the mouth being inclined downwards. When the skunk 

 goes in for his bait, which is put at the bottom of the barrel, as soon as^ie passes th^ centre 

 it turns up, and he is caught. The only thing is to adjust the centre the proper height, so that 

 the barrel may just have impetus to turn completely up on its bottom, without going over. Eggs 

 half rotten, or a dead chick, are the best bait. Skunks are only troublesome at night, and by 

 housing the chicks in good sound wooden coops maj' be entirely checkmated. 



