In some country places where they have none of the aforesaid traps, people are at a loss how to proceed, the subsequent method will supply their place in some measure, and be attended with success; when you have discovered in the morning, that he has been among the sheep over night, get some good dripping as big as a tennis ball, rasp two good figs of nux vomica, and mix them together, stiffened with a little flour; make several of these balls, and at evening trail a sheep’s paunch, tied to a string, to each gate, stile, or gap, where you imagine he enters, putting one of these balls at every place, fixt on the top of a small piece of stick, about six inches high, with the other end in the ground, which will prevent the mice from eating it; when you have trailed to one place, there stick the ball, trailing on to the next in like manner, till you have gone quite round the field; let this be done just at dark, and go again in the morning, and observe how many balls are gone, the remaining ones take up, and put them down again at night, and so proceed till you find he has swallowed some of them, of which there is no fear if he chance to come.
I have sometimes been greatly embarassed in catching him, though I have fully discovered the place at which he came into the field to destroy the sheep; for he was so extremely shy that he would not follow the trail, nor touch any bait laid for him. I then took the following method, viz. just at the gate where he came in, I procured two radded hurdles and put them close at one end, top and bottom; and at the extremity of the end so closed, I tied a live lamb, and at the other end where the opening was I set two steel traps close by each other, and in the room they did not fill up, I placed a large bush to supply the vacancy. These traps were covered very nicely, in the same manner as for the fox; the plan succeeded, and the arch thief was happily taken. If it should be a Dog that comes, procure some of the urine of a proud bitch, and rub it about the trail, or the bait, which will infallibly bring him on, let him be ever so shy, and induce him to go boldly up to the trap and be caught.
THE
HOUSE CAT,
TURNED WILD.
This domestic animal is so well known as to need no description here, and is very useful in a family, but frequently they will run wild in woods, parks, chaces, or forests, and do infinitely more mischief than many vermin naturally wild, and become entirely the reverse of what they were originally intended for.
They attack their prey with surprizing ferocity, equal to that of a tiger, and are very hurtful in gentlemens grounds, such as wood-walks, pheasantries, chicken-grounds, or places where poultry is kept; where they destroy the young pheasants, chickens, ducks, rabbits, and leverets. I have killed seven of these Cats in one week, in a gentleman’s chicken ground, where they came and destroyed almost all his Chinese and other pheasants, Bantam and Guinea fowls, and other curious poultry, both domestic and of foreign extraction, also his tame rabbits; on all which he set the greatest value. I have caught divers of them in a warren, who have rambled several miles to come for their prey, for there is a kind of these creatures, besides those that live in the woods, which generally reside about farm-houses, and at night go out to prowl, and are of no service to the owner. As a proof of this, a farmer happening to come to the warren, who lived about three miles distant, owned one of the cats killed that morning, which had left his house the preceding evening. I have caught thirty wild Cats in a season, at the same warren, and we had but two houses near us, upwards of a mile distant each way, by which it appears how far these animals will ramble in search of their prey.
I now proceed to the manner of taking them; when you find they come to any of the fore-mentioned places, get a common box trap, or hutch trap, [pl. II. fig. 1.] such as are used in warrens; let it be nine inches wide, full ten inches high in the clear, and three feet long. Let the standards A. A. be placed in the centre, on the top of the trap, ten inches from the end B. B. which must slide up and down in a groove; let the standards be twelve inches high, with a notch cut in each, two inches deep, and three quarters of an inch wide, that the swords C. C. may have free room to play by the side of each other. Let the bridge be eight inches square, and then there will be a clear inch in length for the bridge to play; then get a piece of wood, half an inch thick, and an inch and half square, make a hole in the middle, and place it at the bottom of the trap, up against the back, in the centre, afterwards put a nail through without a head, fasten it down to the bottom of the trap, the nail standing up half an inch, then there will be room for the bridge to hang on: make a hole at one end of the bridge, in the centre, place it on the nail; in the other end put a strong piece of wire, and cut a trigger-hole in the front of the trap, towards the bottom, exactly in the middle, three inches high, and half an inch wide, D. D. and be careful to have the inside of the trigger or tiller hole lined on each side the edges with narrow pieces of tin, which will prevent its being gnawed, and the trap from being defaced, for all vermin, whether cats, rats, &c. will constantly gnaw and scratch wherever they see light; then let the wire E, at the side of the bridge go through the trigger-hole D. D. a small matter turned up at the end, that it may hitch to the tiller, which is the small piece of wood tied to the end of the string, then fix a little bit of wood, F, half an inch above the trigger-hole, on the outside of the trap, as a stop for the trigger. But some people are apt to put the tiller in the hole, where it often hangs and prevents the trap from striking, whereas, if placed as directed, it cannot hang in the least, but must strike and take the enemy; whom, in order to secure, when taken, let a piece of wood, about half an inch high, be nailed to the bottom of the trap, on the inside, close to where the door falls, at each end; this will hinder any light from coming in, and prevent the vermin from scratching the door up again, as I have known it sometimes done.
The next step in the formation of the trap is, to take out a bit of the wood from the centre of the top board G, six inches wide, cut slanting on one side, and directly or straight down on the other, with a small tenant saw, which will waste but little of the board, and may readily be taken in and out, over the bridge, and is convenient to put the bait in. Fix a small piece of wood under the lid, the whole length, excepting the thickness of the sides, to keep it from sliding in or out, and on the even side of the lid, put two small wooden hasps, H. H. which will keep it fast on that side, and that side cut under or aslant holds fast likewise; then in the back part of the trap, in the centre, above the bridge, drive a nail through, and turn it up with a hook, to hang the bait on. I have now described the trap to catch this dangerous enemy, with the greatest minuteness, but for the reader’s better understanding the nature and meaning of the same, I have annexed a beautiful copper-plate, containing an exact view or representation of it, with references answering to the foregoing explanation.
This being done, take some valerian-powder, and scatter it in and about the trap, for they are fond of valerian-root to a degree of extravagancy, rolling themselves about when they come near it, purring, and seeming to be as it were in an extacy; if you have no valerian at hand, put some pieces of marem or cat-thyme into the trap, which they are likewise fond of. Now for your bait, take some fishes heads or bones, or a red herring, rubbing the end of the trap with the same, and hang it on the nail, in the back part, over the bridge: this they will eagerly catch at, it being an observation, that Cats love fish, but do not love to wet their feet; yet I have known an instance to the contrary, having observed one of these Cats take the water like a spaniel, after the water rats; but this is very rare and uncommon.
The bait being placed, take several red herrings, tie them together in a string, and draw a trail all round where you think they come, and likewise to the traps; and if they approach you need not fear of catching them. If you find your trap down in the morning, one caution is necessary, which is, not to lift up the door of the trap, to discover what kind of animal you have taken, it being possible that some other vermin may have got in, for if it should prove to be a wild cat, the moment she sees light she will strike at your face with her claws, and endanger your eye-sight, and probably make her escape, having once been served so myself; I would therefore recommend to take a thin sack, draw the end thereof to the end of the trap, so far that it be in the sack’s mouth, which you must draw up tight, then rattle the other end, and the Cat will bolt out into the sack, and holding the mouth tight, gather it together and you may do what you please with it.