HOW TO DESTROY RATS. 



13 



nights on the tops of barrels covered with coarse brown paper. 

 Afterwards a cross was cut in the paper, so that the rats fell into the 

 barrel (fig. 4 (1)). Many variations of the plan, but few improve- 



FiG. 4. — Barrel 



1, With stiff paper cover ; 2, with hinged barrel 

 baits. 



a, stop ; 



ments upon it, have been suggested by agricultural writers since that 

 time. Keports are frequently made of large catches of rats by means 

 of a barrel fitted with a light cover of wood, hinged on a rod so as to 

 turn with the weight of a rat (fig. 4 (2)). 



Pit trap. — A modification of the barrel trap is the pit trap (fig. 5). 

 This consists of a stout narroAv box sunk in the ground so that the 



top is level with the 

 rat run. It is fitted 

 with a cover of light 

 wood or metal in two 

 sections, the sections 

 fitting nicely inside 

 the box and working 

 independently. They 

 turn on rods, to which 

 they are fastened. 

 They are Aveighted 

 near the ends of the box and so adjusted that they swing easily. An 

 animal stepping upon the cover beyond the rods is precipitated into 

 the box, while the cover immediately swings back to its place. Besides 



369 



Fig. 



5. — Pit trap, 

 weights ; 



aa. Rat run ; 66^ cover ; cc, position of 

 dd, rods on which covers turn. 



