TEAPS. 43 



trap. Better still is a simple deadfall — a flat stone or a heavy plank — 

 supported by a figure-4 trigger. An old rat will go under such a 

 contrivance to feed without fear. 



The ordinary steel trap (No. or 1) may sometimes be satisfac- 

 torily employed to capture a rat. The animal is usually caught by 

 the foot, and its squealing has a tendency to frighten other rats. 

 The trap may be set in a shallow pan or box and covered with bran 

 or oats, care being taken to have the space under the trigger pan 

 free of grain. This may be done by placing a very light bit of cotton 

 under the trigger and setting as lightly as possible. In narrow runs 

 or at the mouth of burrows a steel trap unbaited and covered with 

 very light cloth or tissue paper is often effective. 



The best bait to use in trapping is usually food of a kind that the 

 rats do not get in the vicinity. In a meat market vegetables or grain 

 should be used; in a feed store, meat. As far as possible, food other 

 than the bait should be inaccessible while trapping is in progress. 

 The bait should be kept fresh and attractive, and the kind changed 

 when necessary. Baits and traps should be handled as little as pos- 

 sible. Ordinarily, traps should be frequently cleaned or smoked. 

 The use of artificial scents, as oil of anise or rhodium, on the bait is 

 advocated by many, but no doubt their importance has been exag- 

 gerated. The experience of the writer is not favorable to their use, 

 but they may do some good by concealing the human odor on the 

 trap. 



Barrel trap. — About sixty years ago a writer in the Corn hill Mag- 

 azine gave details of a trap by means of which it was claimed that 

 3,000 rats were caught in a warehouse in a single night. The plan 

 involved tolling the rats to the place and feeding them for several 

 nights on the tops of barrels covered with coarse brown paper. 

 Afterwards a cross was cut in the paper, so that the rats fell into the 

 barrel (fig. 3). Many variations of the plan, but few improvements 

 upon it, have been suggested by agricultural writers since that time. 

 Reports are frequently made of large catches of rats by means of a 

 barrel fitted with a light cover of wood, hinged on a rod so as to turn 

 with the weight of a rat (fig. 3). 



Fence and battues. — In the rice fields of the Far East the natives 

 build numerous piles of brush and rice straw and leave them for sev- 

 eral days until many rats have taken shelter in them. A portable 

 bamboo inclosure several feet in height is then set up around each 

 pile in succession and the straw and brush are thrown out over the 

 top while dogs and men kill the trapped rodents. Large numbers 

 are killed in this way, and the plan with modifications may be util- 

 ized in America with satisfactory results. A wire netting of fine 

 mesh ma} x be used for the inclosure. The scheme is applicable at 

 the removal of grain, straw, or haystacks, as well as brush piles. 



