170 COMMON SENSE 
own, and they were never injured, neither did they attack the: little 
chickens, but strange cats generally-came to a speedy end at tlie 
hands, or, rather, the teeth, of our dogs. And it was curious to 
notice how thoroughly acquainted’the dogs and fowls became. If 
a strange dog came into the yards, there was a commotion at once, 
and all the hens were up in arms, but our own dogs might go 
about amongst the flocks, and quite close to a hen and her brood 
and never disturb them. Weasels and skunks were not very com- 
mon. ‘The latter is said to be a very useful insectivorous animal, 
but it is out of place in a poultry yard. It kills chickens, and 
should, therefore, be killed. When we had any indication that a 
skunk was around (and our noses were a pretty good indication of 
such an occurrence) a little vigilance and a charge of snipe shot 
generally prevented all damage. 
But, for all four-footed creatures, the best preventive is a good 
trap. The trap must, of course, take them alive, or it will be liable 
to destroy some of the animals belonging to the place, and it must 
be large enough to catch a small clog, and sufficiently sensitive to 
be sprung by a weasel. I, therefore, had four large box traps 
made, and took great pains with the tables and: triggers, making 
the latter myself out of fine tempered steel. These traps were dis- 
tributed about the place, baited with a little meat. At first we 
caught our own dogs and cats, but they soon learned to give the 
traps a wide berth; the hens were not so easily taught, and would 
persist in being caught, when the traps were set during the day. 
We, therefore, set them only at night, and in them we caught; 
strange dogs, cats, rats, weasels, squirrels and snakes, but never a 
skunk. 
But although we occasionally caught a rat in this way, these ro- 
dents were too cunning to be caught in any numbers in such a con- 
trivance. And as poison was out of the question, we found it very 
difficult to guard against their depredations. Of course the dogs 
did a great deal to protect the chickens, but they could not be 
everywhere, and at night the rats would actually take the young 
chickens from under the mother’s wings. We felt ready to adopt 
any remedy, however cruel. In fact, no one can look at the mean, 
