ENEMIES OF THE GAME-REARER 



earth, but unfortunately, when the animal is pressed hard 

 by dogs, they will often seek shelter in other directions. 



The best means of getting rid of them is by means of 

 terriers and digging, which resolves itself into one of sport. 

 The necessary appliances are a couple of spades, a pick, 

 an earth-raker, tongs, and a hatchet, combined with a 

 wee drop of Scotch as a reviver during the arduous work. 



Cats and Dogs {Cams and Fe lis Domesticd) 



Both dogs and cats commonly become inveterate 

 poachers, more especially the latter, which, once acquiring 

 the habit of poaching, continues it until it meets with its 

 quietus at the hands of the keeper. On some estates 

 enormous numbers of cats are destroyed annually, and it 

 seems to the author that it is part of the natural instinct 

 of the cat to revert towards its original wild condition. 

 The existence of the true wild cat in the British Isles has 

 been disputed, and if such does exist, it is certainly rare. 

 Trapping and shooting are the best means of dealing with 

 these offenders, as the amount of damage either of them can 

 do in a game preserve is wonderful. 



A very good method of trapping cats is to make a 

 spurious rabbit burrow, and put a flesh bait, such as a 

 piece of liver, etc., in the burrow, and a trap at the 

 entrance of it, leaving all the soil outside so as to attract 

 stoats, weasels, cats, hedgehogs, etc. If the burrow is 

 made in a hedgerow that vermin frequent the captures 

 will be innumerable. It is a simple, safe, efficacious and 

 reliable means of decoying ground vermin into a trap. 



For trapping a cat, the carcase of a cat placed beside 

 a trap is one of the best lures. Put a cat plus a trap to 

 catch a cat, and if the carcase is beginning to putrefy, the 

 more efficacious the bait becomes. 



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