Practical Game-Preserving. 318 



may be recommended in this instance. It must always be 

 borne in mind that the trap, to be at all effective, must be 

 quite unobservable by the vermin, and this result must be 

 obtained by copying, as near as possible, the aspect of the 

 spot before it was disturbed. There are, of course, many 

 places which are situated very differently from the two 

 kinds described above ; but the best means of concealment 

 will suggest themselves as the cases occur. 



Not only must care be taken in the setting of vermin- 

 gins, and, indeed, vermin-traps of all kinds, but, it should 



Fig. 34.-Musk.Rat Trap. 



be remarked, the less the hands are employed about them, 

 the less likely are the vermin to be scared away by any 

 scent left ; for, as mentioned in a previous chapter, vermin 

 are not so much afraid of the actual presence of man as 

 they are of traces of him. 



Vermin-trapping may be pursued to a reasonable extent 

 throughout the whole year, but early spring, when there 

 is an abundance of young birds and small mammals, and 

 all through the winter, so long as the ground is not too 

 hardly frozen or too wet, are the seasons most suited to it. 

 Summer and autumn are not so favourable, and unless one 

 takes considerable trouble about the traps only poor results 

 are obtained. 



