347 Ground Vermin. 



necessity, traps for cats may be supplemented by snares, 

 which are, however, not nearly so effectual nor so suited 

 to varied situations. They, however, are by no means to 

 be despised, and, when carefully made and considerately 

 employed, are often of great service in their multiplicity. 



The capture of vermin in and about pheasant and 

 partridge pens has been purposely left over until now, in 

 order to prevent confusion. Besides rats, of which I shall 

 treat presently, polecats, stoats, weasels, and cats may 

 at any time obtain entrance to what is apparently 

 the most secure run or pen that can be obtained. Many 

 of the misdeeds of this kind in rural districts, laid to the 

 credit of the fox, would, I have no doubt, be more 

 correctly set down as the work of ground vermin, rats, or 

 cats. Especially, too, when chicks are about, where 

 pheasants and partridges are reared, the losses sustained 

 are sometimes even disastrous in their continual occurrence. 

 However, steps are rarely taken in the right direction, and 

 foxes and dogs are freely blamed for what should no 

 doubt be seen as the work of the vermin mentioned. Both 

 the stoat and the polecat, before trying to enter a pen or 

 a run, make a very careful examination of the outside, 

 looking evidently for a place by which to escape, in 

 case their entrance be occupied at the critical time. The 

 survey they make leaves them very liable to be trapped, and 

 therefore, mischief having once been perpetrated, traps 

 should immediately be set at intervals all round the pens 

 or coops, some small trap being employed, if considered 

 advisable. If any drain holes run through the hedgerow, 

 a trap should be placed in them, and in the case of pens, 

 in any spots where the probability of vermin trying to enter 

 exists. 



Obtain one or two drain-pipes just large enough to 

 allow a small vermin-gin to work inside them, and having 



