Practical Game -Preserving. 384 



striking gins around it, repeated settings of the traps are 

 sure to secure some of the vermin. 



Jays have predilections for certain trees, chiefly oak 

 and ash, the former of not large size, and a trap or two 

 fixed on the branches about two-thirds up and close to the 

 trunk will prove efficacious. The traps represented in 

 Figs. 50 and 51 are the most suitable. 



Some gateways are particularly affected by magpies as 

 places from which to observe the surrounding fields, &c., 

 when on the look-out for quarry. Nearly every gate has 

 a side-piece by which it is hung to the post a foot or so 

 higher than the top bar, and any magpie taking a look 

 round will doubtless get upon the more elevated portion. 

 It is usually easy to take the frequenters of such positions 

 by placing a trap upon the top of the wood, and having 

 set and adjusted it, fasten it to the wood by means of a 

 large wire staple over the ring of the chain, which must 

 hang down on the post end of the gate. These are only 

 a few typical positions where magpies and jays may be 

 trapped for, but they should prove suggestive of many 

 others, many of which have been indicated from time to 

 time when I have had to deal with the protection necessary 

 for various forms of game. 



Hawks and Owls. 



Although the extraordinary and ill-advised prejudice 

 existing in the minds of most gamekeepers against any- 

 thing in the shape of a hawk or an owl has, to some extent, 

 been overcome, there are still great numbers of them who 

 obstinately persist in classing amongst winged vermin a 

 number of birds which are not only not injurious in the 

 preserve, but may be actually beneficial. It seems almost' 

 a hopeless case to try to persuade some keepers, and 

 equally so other persons, that the owls generally, and some 



