The universal directory for taking alive and destroying rats: and all other kinds of four-footed and winged vermin, in a method hitherto unattempted: calculated for the use of the gentleman, the farmer, and the warrener

LONDON:

Printed for J. WALKER, No. 44, Pater-noster-row.

M.DCC. LXXXVI.

=[Entered in Stationers Hall.]=

The Public are requested to observe, the two preceding Editions of this Book were sold at the extravagant Price of £1 1s. in consequence of which, Copies have been of late particularly scarce and valuable, the Publisher has reprinted the Work at the low Price of Three Shillings only, with all the Embellishments of Plates, &c.

However trifling and contemptible the following Treatise may appear to some persons, the author flatters himself that it will be productive of great public utility, although the subject is but low and humble.

Many ingenious writers have greatly distinguished themselves in treating of that noble and useful animal the horse; of the method of breeding horned cattle, sheep, and other animals, serviceable and beneficial to mankind; this little work, on the contrary, takes cognizance of those animals, noxious to the community, describes their wonderful wilyness and sagacity, and the uncommon and surprizing methods they take for self-preservation and getting their prey; the research, may, perhaps, give the reader great satisfaction, for the infinite wisdom of the great Creator is as conspicuous in a mole as in a camel, in an ant as in a lion.

in many places where gentlemen have hare-warrens and pheasantries, they are troubled with foxes, their waters with otters, those great destroyers of fish; their poultry are killed by polecats, stoats, and weasels; in other places they are pestered with wild cats, who originally strayed from the farm and other lone houses, and running into the woods, breed in great numbers and do incredible mischief, in destroying the game, poultry, rabbits, and young leverets; in many other places they are troubled with sheep-killing dogs, who in the night-time worry and kill great numbers of sheep, so useful and necessary to the commonwealth, and the staple commodity of the kingdom. But of all the noxious animals none do more mischief than rats; both the old English black rat and the Norway rat, especially the latter, which is the most mischievous animal in the creation.

In all the above cases, rules, not drawn from theory, but from twenty years strict observation and practice, are laid down in the plainest manner, to find out their haunts and hiding places; with the easiest methods how to take and destroy them, to the great joy and emolument of the persons who have been injured and pestered with them. Rules for taking and destroying moles and mice are likewise given, and the nature of ferrets is also described, with instructions when it is proper to make use of them, and when not.

And as the noxious part of the creation is not confined to the earth only, many of the winged inhabitants of the air are equally pernicious to the gentleman and the farmer, their natures are described, with proper and suitable directions how to take and destroy them, from the buzzard and the kite, to the smallest bird of prey, without which the author would have estimated his work as incomplete.

On the whole, if the following little Treatise should any ways answer the intent for which it was written, the author will obtain the end he aimed at, and gratify the utmost extent of his ambition and wishes, namely, the good and advantage of his fellow-subjects, and the general good of the community.

I shall first begin with old Reynard the Fox, for he is the king of the vermin in this island; wolves indeed formerly abounded here, an animal infinitely more fierce and dangerous than the former, but these for many ages have been entirely extirpated.

The Fox is a very subtle, sly, and daring animal, and in hard and severe winters will come to places where hares and pheasants are kept, and destroy a great many of them; he is likewise a mortal enemy to lambs and all kinds of poultry, but scarce in any other instances he is more mischievous than in destroying rabbits in warrens, which he frequently does in prodigious numbers, but more especially in stopping time, as I have known the young rabbits of near twenty stops taken away by the Foxes in one night's time. It may be necessary here to explain what is meant by the above term; when the female rabbit is ready to kindle, she digs an hole, or angle, about four feet long, and about ten or twelve inches under ground, and when she goes out for food, she scratches the earth over the mouth of the hole, or stop, so that it is scarcely perceptible to the eye, in order for the preservation of her young ones from any approaching enemy; in the night, the Fox being in search of his prey, comes to the place where these stops are made and scents the young rabbits, but instead of entering therein, he follows the scent above ground till he comes to the end of the angle, and then scratching up the earth comes immediately on the young, which he devours; and this is called crowning on them.

It is very difficult to guard against the approaches of this enemy, his motions being so uncertain, unless a trap was constantly placed, for sometimes he will destroy several lambs and poultry in the night at farm-houses, and not come near the same place again for a considerable time, shifting his quarters to other places considerably remote in search of fresh plunder; but in large parks where hares and pheasants are constantly kept in great numbers, there is a greater probability of taking him in the following manner:

The method to know where and which way he comes, is to make what is termed a shrape, which is done by drawing a circle[1] on the ground, in the park or warren, about three feet diameter, take the mould out all over, four inches deep, then take a sieve and sift a sufficient quantity of fine mould to fill it up again even to the surface, dig six of these in various parts of the park, and fill them up in the same manner. The reason of having the mould sifted so fine is, that when you set a trap there will be no stones to intervene between the spring and the jaw of the trap, which will sometimes happen without proper observance, and prevent the trap from striking close.

Footnote 1:

See letter A. plate 1. fig. 1.

The next step to be taken is to procure a sheep's paunch; tie a string to it, and draw it to each shrape, before described, but remember at the distance of two or three hundred yards to rub the bottom of your shoes on the paunch, which will prevent him from discovering the smell of your feet, and at every shrape lay some pieces of strong old Cheshire cheese, and come again in the morning, when you will plainly perceive whether his behaviour is shy or not; for he will sometimes eat all the cheese he can reach, without entering on the shrape; the next night he will venture somewhat further, and set his feet so lightly on the mould that you can scarcely discern their print: I have sometimes fed a shy Fox for a whole week before I have set a trap for him, but when he comes to feed boldly he will trample all over the shrape and make prints an inch deep, and in that shrape, where he seems to feed the freest, I would advise to place two traps, and, without any particular accident, if he comes, you will be sure of catching him.

Set your traps after the following manner: take some mould out, just sufficient for the traps to lie in; and when properly placed, get some moss, and with a small stick, put some of it under the bridge, and likewise between the bridge and the jaw, and lay it quite smooth; now the reason of having the above stick is, that in case you should spring the trap, it will not injure you in the least, but only catches the end of the stick. The next particular you must observe is, to procure a thin piece of board, a foot in length, two inches wide at one end, and cut away at the other to hold them by; then with this board strike some mould or earth over the trap, entirely level with the other parts of the shrape; this board is absolutely necessary in order to prevent your handling the mould, for if he is in the least shy, he will not approach the shrape if you once handle it; another caution is likewise necessary, which is, not to let the bridges of your traps be too wide, for a Fox had better come and put his foot in between the bridge and the jaw of the trap, and not spring it at all, for in that case he will come again, as he has not been baulked, but when the bridge is too wide, if he happens to set his foot on the jaw, then his toe nails reach the bridge, and spring the trap without catching him, which will render him shy, and it will be a very difficult matter afterwards to get him at all.

But in order to prevent any such disappointment, I would advise that your steel traps for the Fox should be square in the jaw, and not round as the common traps are usually made, and strike but five inches high, and seven inches long in the jaw, with saw-teeth[2], and let the tail[3] of the trap be two feet from the tail end[4] of the spring, for they are generally made too short, from whence this inconvenience arises, that when a trap stands for some time, in warrens or parks, the spring gives out, the purchase being so quick, whereas, were the traps formed on the principle above laid down, the spring would remain for a considerable time without giving way; and lastly, let the [5]bridge of the trap be four inches square.

Footnote 2:

See the letters CC in plate 1. fig. 1.

Footnote 3:

See D in the same plate.

Footnote 4:

See E in the same plate.

Footnote 5:

See B in the same plate.

But as to a shy Fox, as just above observed, I have known them come again, when compelled by hunger and necessity, and sometimes even with three legs, and take the young rabbits out of the stops or holes, as before described.

And here I beg leave to correct a vulgar error mentioned by some authors, which is, that the Fox, when caught by the leg in a trap, in order to facilitate his escape, will gnaw off the same above the jaws of the trap, but this assertion is entirely false and erroneous, as it would put the animal to inconceivable pain and agony to bite its own flesh, while any sensation remained, and renders the supposition likewise unnatural; but the real state of the case is this, which I have proved from long experience, for as a dog, when he has got into a trap, will yelp and cry out till he is tired, which soon happens, and then lie quiet, on the contrary, this artful cunning creature, we are now describing, as soon as taken, makes no noise at all, but is indefatigable in his endeavours to get out, and will neither stand nor lie still till either somebody comes to let him out, or he gets out by the following manner; he immediately begins to tumble and toss about, and after some time striving, he breaks his leg, just at the place where the iron jaws of the trap are fastened; the lower part of the leg, under the trap, is soon benumbed and deprived of all sensation, which the Fox then gnaws off, and drawing the sinews through the teeth of the trap, makes his escape, leaving that part of his leg which he had bit off behind him; and, as a further confirmation, I once catched a dog and bitch Fox, early in the winter, who both escaped, by the above means, with three legs each, and the ensuing spring came to the same warren and took out several stops on their three legs, which I discovered, and poisoned them by means of some balls properly prepared, the method of which I shall soon come to describe.

It may not here be unnecessary to lay down some rules to distinguish the dog Fox from the bitch, which may easily be done, without seeing them, by adhering to the following observations; a dog Fox has a larger foot than a bitch, and it much resembles that of a small lurcher dog, and has been often mistaken for one, by those who do not examine things minutely: but there is an essential difference; for the Fox has hardly any ball to the heel of his foot, but the dog has a large one; and a bitch Fox has likewise a small foot with the ball thereof still considerably less than the male. The utility of this remark will soon appear.

I now proceed to lay down another method of taking and destroying these pernicious vermin, either in park, warren, or field, but more especially those who have been made shy, or have lost a leg in a trap, as before hinted, which is as follows: whatever place it may happen to be in, you must take notice of all the little by-paths all round the ground, and sift some mould in each of them, and place by the side of each path, where the mould is sifted, a piece of white rag stuck on a stick; for if there be any rabbits or hares near the path, they, by running up and down, will create such confusion in the mould, that it will be next to an impossibility to distinguish the impression of the Fox's foot; the intent, therefore, of these white rags is, to fright the rabbits and hares away, but the Fox will boldly proceed along regardless of them: as soon therefore as you have discovered which path he came along, you must not trail for him as before, for that having seduced him into danger, and led him to the trap, he will remember it well, and it is a very great chance whether he will follow the trail at all.

But take two good figs of nux vomica; let them be quite white and sound, (for those that are of a brown colour are neither so strong nor efficacious) then rasp them very fine, take a piece of good dripping as big as a tennis ball, mix with these a little flower to bring it to a proper consistency or stiffness, and then roll it in honey; for there is nothing fonder of honey than a Fox, and I have seen one scratch up the earth for a bee's nest under the ground, for the sake of the honey, and after he had accomplished this design, having the wind of him I shot him dead on the spot. But to return.

When you have found out the path he comes in, place two or three of these balls of the magnitude before mentioned, at nine or ten yards distance, for fear he should miss one; place them on a small stick six inches high, in order to prevent the mice from eating them. But a little distinction is here necessary to be made, for if you are endeavouring after a Fox, whom you imagine never to have been made shy or caught in a trap, the method of trailing, as laid down in the first instance may be followed, and then one ball will be sufficient to be put in the path, which he will readily go up to and take, and in order still to be more certain of his footsteps, take the foot of a Fox and print it in fine mould or sand, but the former is better if it can be got, the latter when dry, being apt to run; by observing this rule you will readily know the print of his foot, wherever you see it.

When the plan has succeeded to your wishes, and the Fox has taken one of the balls as he came in, it is ten to one but he dies before he gets out again, as was the with the dog and bitch Fox before mentioned, and if you print him in, and not print him out, then you may hunt for him with your dog, being certain that he is still lurking somewhere in the ground.