454 Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, 1919. 



other. House mice have a habit of following the walls of a 

 room as they run about, and a trap placed behind a table leg 

 or small object where mice naturally run need not be baited. 

 House rats are sometimes wary and difficult to catch in 

 traps set in the ordinary way. A small steel trap set in a 

 pan of bran or oats and carefully covered will usually catch 



the shyest of rats. It is 

 well to scatter small pieces 

 of meat or bread over the 

 bran. The wire trap 

 shown in figure IT is more 

 effective when covered by 

 a piece of cloth or by a 

 wooden box having a hole 

 in one end through which 

 rats may pass directly into 

 the trap. 1 



Wild rats and mice may 

 be trapped readily at the 

 entrances to their burrows 

 or in their runways, the 

 traps and the manner of 

 setting them being the 

 same as employed in catch- 

 ing house rats and mice. 

 Prairie dogs, ground 

 squirrels, and woodchucks 

 are usually caught in steel 

 traps set at the entrances 

 to their burrows. Some- 

 times it is not necessary to 

 cover the traps, but as a 

 rule it is advisable to press them well into the earth and cover 

 them lightly with grass or leaves, or whatever may be at 

 hand. A trap should always be chained to a stake or other 

 firm object so that an animal caught in it can not descend 

 into its burrow or escape with the trap. 



Porcupines may be caught by means of an apple, a carrot, 

 or a bit of green corn placed in a crevice behind a No. 2 



BI260M 



Fig. 2.— Box Trap for Catching 

 Rabbits, Squirrels, and Other Small 

 Animals Uninjured. 



It may be baited or set without bait in 

 a runway. Details of construction are 

 : lu>wn in figure 3. 



1 For full directions for destroying these pests, see Farmers' Bulletin 89G, 

 " House Bats and Mice." 



