as Enemies of Mankind. 



35 



should be handled as little as possible in setting, and the hands 

 should be well rubbed with earth before touching it. Rats can 

 often be taken in their runs by means of unbaited traps. It is 

 often useful to bury the traps under a thin covering of earth, chaff, 

 or other loose materials lightly sprinkled over them with a sieve. 

 Many useful hints on trapping may be found in the papers 

 recently published in the Field by Mr. Sharpe (January to March, 

 1918). 



In some cases, as where a run passes along a wet ditch, or 

 where the rats show themselves to be very shy, rats can be readily 

 caught by traps set and covered by a thin stratum of water ; traps 

 so covered are not betrayed by their odour. Where traps thus set 

 are baited, as when used indoors, the bait hangs just above the 

 surface of the water. A method of this sort has been described 

 by an American writer (lO), and more recently (and quite in- 

 dependently) by Mr. Sharpe in the Field. Mr. Sharpe supports 

 the trap on three nails in a gap cut in a wooden platform, which 

 is placed just under the surface of the water in a tank or in a 

 hollow dug in the bed of a ditch. When the trap is sprung it is 

 thrown off the supporting nails and sinks with the trapped rat 

 down into the tank or hollow beneath. 



In barns, granaries, and other places large numbers of rats 

 can be caught alive by box-traps or strong wire cage- traps, if these 

 are properly baited and concealed. Pitfalls also, such as large 

 vessels sunk in the ground, or barrels with pivoted lids, are often very 

 effective when properly baited ; in these traps a decoy rat may be 

 placed with advantage ; a female immediately after she has given 

 birth to a litter makes the best decoy imaginable. A very neat 

 and inexpensive contrivance, the invention of two poor Swedes, is 

 described by Zuschlag. A wooden stockade about 3 feet 6 inches 

 high is erected so as to enclose a triangular space, of which each 

 side is about 12 feet in length. In one of the sides is a gap 

 18 inches to 2 feet wide ; this gap is closed at will by means of a 

 heavy slide held up, when the trap is open, by a cord and pulley. 

 In the base of the side opposite to the gap is fitted a funnel, of 

 wide enough bore to admit of the passage of a rat ; the funnel 

 opens into a sack placed behind the stockade. The inner 

 side of the stockade is smooth, so as to give as little foothold as 

 possible to rats attempting to climb out ; and old iron plates or 

 tiles are placed so as to overhang the edge of the stockade, inclined 

 at a suitable angle to prevent the rats from leaping out. The trap 



