Practical Game-Preserving. 342 



immediately above b, so that the latter overlaps the former 

 by about Jin. d should be a piece of iron or brass, the 

 opposite metal to the two pegs ee, and has a hole in it 

 through which to attach the string holding the weight. / 

 is a piece of iron having a running pulley set in it at its 

 curved end; it is fastened on above the bell-spring and 

 has the form of a miniature davit. The weight g should 

 be about 3in. wide and 2ft. long. It is held up by the 

 string fastened to a staple in its actual centre. To set 

 this trap press down the spring c, and the point of it just 

 beneath the point of b, then set the weight in position on 

 the top of the trap, placing the string over the pulley, 

 down the davit /, and fix the piece of metal at its end, 

 beneath the pins ee. Anything running through the trap 

 presses the treadle down on one side, the bell-spring is 

 released, throwing out d; the spring being then free, the 

 weight drops instantaneously, and crushes the animal 

 which sets off the trap. 



I have made many modifications of this, all on the 

 same principle as far as the treadle and catch are con- 

 cerned, replacing the weight by an arrangement for drop- 

 ping a door at each end and so catching the animal alive ; 

 also one with a single door of similar kind. Several 

 firms now supply traps on this principle. Fig. 48 shows 

 an excellent form. 



The true wild cat is now so rare that it is scarcely 

 necessary to refer to it ; at the same time its existence in 

 many of the wilder and least-frequented portions of 

 Wales, the North of England, and much more so in Scot- 

 land, is still maintained. A good number of so-called 

 wild cats are annually reported as being trapped, some 

 of them doubtless really wild specimens. I have, how- 

 ever, many reasons for doubting the authenticity of all the 

 " wild cats " reported killed and taken, and must leave 



