36 FARM VERMIN, HELPFUL AND HURFFUL. 



the highest importance. The favourite runs should first be 

 ascertained, and food should be distributed in them for some 

 nights before the capture is attempted. 



A well-known and simple live trap which has on occasion 

 proved immensely successful consists of a barrel containing 

 about six inches of water, in the middle of which a brick is 

 placed on end. The top is covered with stout paper, which 

 is baited for several nights in succession. Across is then 

 cut in the middle of the paper, and the rats, repairing to 

 their usual feast, fall one by one into the barrel, where their 

 scrambling for a foothold on the brick is sure to attract 

 numbers of their fellows. 



It is exceedingly unfortunate that it is considered necessary, 

 in the interest of game, to wage a w^ar of extermination 

 against almost all the natural enemies of the rat. Stoats, 

 weasels, owls, and kestrels are indiscriminately slaughtered, 

 the domestic cat alone being tolerated. There can be no 

 doubt whatever that, from the farmer's point of view, owls, 

 kestrels, and weasels should be regarded in the light of 

 friends. As regards the stoat — easily recognisable by its 

 black-tipped tail and its white winter coat — the pros and 

 cons are perhaps more evenly balanced. 



Of the true mice, three species are sufficiently well known 

 in this country, the House mouse i^Mits miiscidiLs)^ the Long- 

 tailed field m.ouse (J///6^ sylvaticus)^ and the Harvest mouse 

 {Mus miniLtits)^ the smallest of European species. The 

 first named is too well known to need description, but it is 

 by its depredations in the rick-yards that it chiefly affects 

 the farmer. Mr. Harting well remarks : ^' The weasel is to 

 the mouse what the ferret is to the rat — an inveterate foe, 

 and its presence in a stackyard ought to be welcomed, 

 instead of being looked upon with a suspicion which too 

 often results in its untimely death.'' The long-tailed field- 

 mouse, which breeds in cornfields, hedgerows, and gardens, 

 works sad havoc among grain, seeds, fruit, and nuts, storing 



