Practical Game-Preserving. 344 



really at a wonderful distance from their place of 

 capture. The injury that cats chiefly cause is amongst 

 rabbits, &c., which are being systematically trapped, 

 and, besides these, foxes and dogs are equally destruc- 

 tive. For the better determination to which animal's 

 credit the mischief may be placed, it is necessary 

 to mention that a cat never takes a rabbit out of a trap, 

 but partly or nearly wholly consumes one, leaving the 

 jagged remains in the trap. Further, a dog eats one or 

 two entirely, and buries the remains, which it may subse- 

 quently obtain. A fox takes a rabbit from a trap, and, 

 having partly eaten it, leaves the remains lying near; 

 this it continues to do until its hunger is appeased ; after 

 this it carries them off. 



Besides this kind of mischief, cats are quite capable of 

 catching partridges, &c., and they are particularly fond 

 of traversing rabbit-burrows when the burrows are suffi- 

 ciently large or the cat is sufficiently small. When, 

 however, these two provisos do not occur, cats will often 

 entice kittens away, when these latter work much like 

 ferrets. I have often watched these operations, and on 

 one occasion shot two rabbits bolted by kittens. 



For the capture of cats, rabbit-gins may be employed, 

 but they require a firm and tight-holding stake, and the 

 wider the jaws are apart the better. When it is desired 

 to catch a cat that has become obnoxious in the circum- 

 stances above related, the rabbit found partly consumed 

 may be employed, but must be left in exactly the position 

 it occupied when found, and the gins be neatly tilled 

 round it ; about four or five will be amply sufficient if the 

 rabbit be not against a wall or a bank, when, in such case, 

 two will suffice. For the general trapping of cats the 

 most suitable places are along the outside of plantations 

 enclosed by hedgerows, at the corners of gateways, along 



