Part 5

The box [pl. IV. fig. 2.] is made in this manner: three feet long, a foot and a half wide, and twenty inches high, with two small holes E, one at each end, at the back, close to the bottom of the box, about three inches diameter, or square, as you like; then the Rats can go in and out without being disturbed, and no other animal can take their food but themselves. Let the inside traps have a pound weight of sheet-lead nailed on at each end, which will make them strike quick, and keep the end down, for I have known them to get out of these traps for want of sufficient weight: and for the more effectually preventing them from getting their noses under the end and lifting them up, take a small piece of wood, an inch wide and three quarters of an inch thick, and put it across, at the bottom, in the inside, at each end, that the end of the trap may strike down flush without side. Let this piece of wood be lined with tin, that they may not gnaw it away. Let the traps be made of stout inch-fir, which is the best wood you can make use of; for that will never warp nor bend, as other wood does; but any old packing box will do for the outside. If they are not exactly made as I have already prescribed, they will answer the intent, yet if you are obliged to make new ones, they may as well be made according to the directions before given; but if it is a quiet place where you can lock the door, or in a barn, or the outside of a barn at a farm-house, the following trap may be used with great advantage and efficacy, which is the common hutch or box trap, which however must be sheltered, at each end, as before directed. This trap the reader is referred to [plate II. fig. 1.] and likewise to the description of the same, in the account of the wild cat, in page 49 of this work. And here I beg leave to give a general caution to the reader, which is, to follow the directions laid down in the preceding pages, and practise them by himself; for company will baulk the sport, and when once the traps are baulked, the blame will fall upon the author, who is not in the least in fault; for he will maintain and abide by every instruction before given, to be exactly just and true. Remember, likewise, that they are a very subtle vermin, for if they in the least suspect what you are about, you cannot catch them, for I would not have you imagine that any kind of vermin will ever enter a trap, knowing it to be one; on the contrary, you must entice and encourage them by the means before laid down, which will make them bold, and enable you to catch them with the greatest facility imaginable. Now when you have set all your traps to work, you will want to scent them, which must be performed in this manner; take twenty drops of the oil of rhodium, six or seven grains of musk, half an ounce of the oil of anniseed, put them in a small phial for use, and before you set the traps, shake them well together, then scent your traps as follows: Take a small piece of paper twisted up, dip it in the bottle, and rub each end of the trap, and put two or three drops on the bridge, and likewise the holes at each end of the box; leave the paper in each trap, and let every trap be served in this manner; the reason of mixing these three ingredients together is, that I have always tried it with success, for in some places the rats love the smell of rhodium, in others they like the smell of musk, and again, in other places, they love the smell of anniseed; on this account I mix them all together, that the scent of either one or other of the above ingredients may entice and allure them to the trap. Another piece of instruction is necessary to be given: when you first set your traps to work, different means are to be used according to the different places you are catching at; if it is at a dog-kennel, put some small pieces of boiled flesh about in the trap, as well as the feed; if in a slaughter-house, put some small bits of fat, or small pieces of guts; if in a brewhouse put some malt; if in a still-house put some of the meal; if in a mill the same; if at a barn, put in some corn as well as the feed, and so likewise in all other instances. The reason of this method of proceeding is, in whatever places your traps are set, put some of the same things in the trap as they have been before used to; for then they have not so great a notion of its being a trap: you must not use any of the scenting in the feed, for there is nothing they are so fond of in their food as the oil of carraways.

_The Recipe how to make the Food or Feed._

Take a pound of good flour, three ounces of treacle, and six drops of the oil of carraways, put them all into a bowl, and rub them well together, till it looks all alike; be sure to mix it well; then put a pound of the crumb of bread to it; for they like the bread mixt with their feed better than the feed alone, it being too luscious, for which reason they do not like it so well by itself; but that night on which you catch, put no bread to it, lest they should carry it away.

There is a necessity for your having two wire cages, one small, [pl. II. fig. 2.] used in going round your traps, in order to take the vermin out to put them into the larger one, made in the manner following:

The small wire cage must be thus constructed; let it be nine inches in length by nine wide, four inches and a half high, with a fall in it at one end and a door at the other, the first to let them in at, and the other to let them out into the great cage, which must be made as follows: Let it be twenty inches long, nine inches wide, and eight inches high, with a fall at one end, to let them in from the small cage, and a door on the top to take them out at; now when you are catching, set your great cage out of the way, at some distance, that the other Rats may not hear them squeak, for that will baulk your sport and occasion them to run away. In the morning, if you do not choose to drown them, perhaps you will want to hunt those you have taken, and know not how to take them out at the top of the great cage; but this may be done very easily; for if you do not hurt them they will not bite you; for by standing together in the trap all night they are cowed, and have not the least notion of biting, unless you should happen to squeeze them too hard; but you may take them out one by one, with your hand, very safely. Now this matter is a secret, for we always inculcate the notion that they will bite you terribly, unless you rub your hands with some kind of ingredient or other. I was once of that opinion myself, but am now better convinced; indeed when there are but four or five left behind in the trap, they are apt to be very violent and outrageous, you may then shake them out to your dog. There is a wide difference in the temper and disposition of these animals; for some are so savage and untamed, that they will set up their backs, looking very fiercely and crying out, if you do but look at them; but when you meet with one of this kind, shake him well in the cage, together with the rest, and observe when he has put his head among the others, and take him out by his tale and he will not bite you; but observe when you have first catched them do not go to handle them directly, for then they are so mad and furious that they will bite any thing.

I shall here give the reader another maxim I have often followed very successfully; if you find the holes quiet and no rats to use them, it will then be incumbent on you to stop them up in this manner, to prevent others from entering therein: Take a pint of common tar, half an ounce of pearl-ashes, an ounce of oil of vitriol, and a good handful of common salt, mix them all well together in any old deep pan; get some pieces of paper, and put some of the above mixture very thick on the paper, and place enough of this into the holes to stop them, and then let the bricklayer make good after you; and if you should find any of the holes opened again, it is certain you had not put in a sufficient quantity, then put in some more, and, if it is done as it ought, they will never approach there any more, while either smell or taste remains in it; now by stopping the holes in the shores in town, where they come up, with the above mixture, I have kept a gentleman’s house entirely clear, and never have caught one single Rat.

Now sometimes they will get in behind the wainscot and in the ceiling, in town, and not come out into the house, but remain there, and become very troublesome, and this is a very bad case: in order therefore to make them forsake these places, find out a small hole or crack, then take a handful of common salt, and put it in at the hole or crack, and pour upon the salt a spoonful or two of oil of vitriol, and this will make such a fumigation or smoke, that they cannot bear it, then stop the hole or crevice again, that the smoke may not come out, do this in two or three places, as near where you hear them as you can, and it will cause them to forsake those places. This method is very safe, as no damage can possibly ensue to the wainscot from the smoke.

I shall now point out a method to kill them, where you cannot set a trap for them: Take a quart of the same food, before made use of in taking them in traps, then rasp three figs of nux vomica, add to these a quarter of a pound of crumb of bread, mix them all well together, and this will be their certain bane; but first give them some without the nux vomica figs, for two or three succeeding nights, and when they find it agrees with them, they will then eat that mixed with the fig, with great freedom and greediness.

I am not much a friend to poisoning Rats in houses, except in cases of necessity, but if it must be done, I would by no means recommend the use of arsenic, or corrosive sublimate, which is too often practised, for then they creep into holes about the house, get between the ceilings, and other places, and there die, and occasion a very disagreeable smell; for as soon as they have taken enough of it, it is like a spark of fire in their bowels, and brings on an insatiate thirst, and they are restless and uneasy till they get at something to drink, either water, milk, or beer, and then they die immediately; from this circumstance it is evident what dangerous consequences may arise, if any person should drink any of the milk or beer, where these vermin, thus poisoned, have been slavering and drinking; but sometimes it is a difficult matter to make them swallow enough to kill them, for the moment they taste the sharp acid contained therein, it corrodes the mouth and loosens the teeth, and then they will eat no more of it, whereas the mixture of the nux vomica, before recommended, is quite different, and if even tasted by any person, no such fatal effects can happen, for there is nothing but a little bitter taste that is disagreeable; and they will take a sufficient quantity to kill them before they know it, and then they cannot get rid of it, for it throws them into fits, puts them to the greatest agony, and they die soon after; and in order to be more certain of its effects, I have kept them in a cage, and gave it them to try the experiment.

I conclude my account of the Rat with the few following particulars, which I flatter myself will prove useful; they are often very troublesome in coming up the shores, more especially in still-houses and brewhouses; now in the above instances, or in any other shores, where you cannot conveniently set a trap, I have practised the subsequent scheme with great success, which although it does not destroy them, will infallibly drive them away: When you have catched some Rats and killed them, take some white arsenic, finely powdered, put it into an old pepper-box, and shake a quantity of it on the fore parts of the dead Rats, and put them down the holes or avenues by the sides of the shores, where they come in at, which will put a stop to their coming any farther; for when they once perceive the arsenic, they will retire immediately, whereas if you was to put them down without the arsenic, the living Rats would eat the dead ones; I have seen one Rat kill another, when put into the large cage, and afterwards eat him; and once had an old she Rat, big with young, which she brought forth in the cage, and immediately eat them; for there is no kind of vermin whatever so savage as a Norway Rat; again, when you find they have taken to a rick of any sort of corn or hay, take some dead Rats, put some arsenic over them, as before observed, then place one in each hole they have made in the thatch, and it will make them all forsake the rick; in like manner you may stop some of these Rats, served as before, under the barn-floor, where the Rats use, and it will prevent others from taking shelter or harbouring under them; these vermin are likewise very fond of lying under the calve-pens, where they keep snug and warm; use the above method and it will drive them away; and also in any of their burrows, if you can put the dead Rats, prepared as above, so safe that nothing can easily get at them, and by observing these rules, you will obtain the desired effect.

THE BLACK RAT.

This animal is the old genuine English House-Rat, no other being known in and about houses, for many ages, in this country, and differs in many particulars from the Norway Rat, last described, for they do not burrow and run into shores as the others do, but chiefly lie in the cielings and wainscots in houses, and in out-houses they lie under the ridge-tiles and behind the rafters, and run along the side-plates; but their numbers are greatly diminished to what they were formerly, not many of them being now left, for the Norway Rats always drive them out, and kill them wherever they can come at them; as a proof of which I was once exercising my employment at a gentleman’s house, and when the night came that I appointed to catch, I set all my traps going as usual, and in the lower part of the house, in the cellars, I caught the Norway Rats, but in the upper part of the house I took nothing but the black Rats; I then put them together into the great cage, to keep them alive till the morning, that the gentleman might see them, when the Norway Rats killed the black ones immediately, and devoured them in my presence.

These vermin are not near so bold, nor will feed so freely as the Norway Rat, and when you are troubled with any of them you must observe where they use, which you may do very easily, for if you go into any place and look up at the side-plates, you will perceive they will be quite black where they run along them, and likewise along the cross beams; on these cross beams place one of the traps you set for the Norway Rats, and put some of the same feed in them, but mix more bread in it than you did for the Norway Rat, and scent the trap in the same manner, and put some corn in of any sort: set a trap at each place where they use, and set them all to feed, as you do the others for the Norway Rat; and when you perceive that they come to feed boldly, then take them; but this must be done in the night, for they do not move by day-light, as the other rats will. By this method I catch them alive, but I have likewise taken them on the side-plates and beams, where they run, in wires and in snares, so that they swing off the beams; they are not near so savage as the Norway Rats, for they seldom kill any chickens or any thing of that kind, unless extremely hungry and sharp set indeed, but they are sly thieves for cheese, bacon, or any kind of eatables they can get at and pilfer.

THE WATER RAT.

These Rats lie always by the waterside, and feed chiefly on grass and vegetables, eating neither flesh or corn, but they will devour green peas, when in season, if there are any growing near the ditches where they lie; these vermin do not much mischief, except in making holes in banks and spoiling fences; they make kennels or holes by the side of ditches, very much resembling those of the otter, for they have one way out in the water, and another way out by land, in order to escape from their enemies, which ever way pursued. The method of taking them is by setting little hutch traps by the side of the ditch or pond where they lie, with wings made with bushes or raised with mould, running aslant from the trap as a guide for them to go in, such as they have in warrens. Feed them with any thing green, such as the hard part or stalk cut out of a cabbage, or cabbage-leaves, which they will eat; but do not set your traps going till they feed boldly, and give them some leaves regularly, as you do the other Rats their proper feed; tie some of these leaves in the trap, then you will be a judge of what comes to feed, else one will convey away as much as ten will eat, which occasions you to conclude there are a great many of them. You may take them another way; get some small steel traps and put them in their runs, even with the surface of the ground, and covered over very nicely with the mould. These vermin are something like the Norway Rat, but smaller, their noses and tails are shorter, and their heads rounder, or what is commonly termed muffheaded.

THE SQUIRREL.

These little animals are admired for their beauty, and for the sport they afford in hunting them among the trees; they are about the size of the stoat or cain, with a tail as large as their body, which they always turn up when they sit still, to keep their bodies warm; they are of a reddish colour, except under the belly, which is white; they make themselves nests or lodging places, commonly called drays, in a very neat manner, with small sticks, leaves, and moss, in the tops of the trees, where they hoard up nuts to serve them in the winter; but besides these, they make a reserve of nuts, acorns, and other things of a similar nature in retired and bye places, which they know where to find, in case the other should be taken away, which often happens; they are chiefly hurtful in destroying wall-fruit, for they will run along the top of the wall, taking the first choice of the fruit, whether nectarines, peaches, apricots, _&c._ and do prodigious mischief; I have caught them on the wall with a small steel trap, covered nicely, and in wood-walks I have seen them take the eggs out of birds-nests and break them, by that means destroying their nests. Their flesh is reckoned a great dainty by some persons, and is said to be superior to venison in flavour.

THE MOLE.

This animal is in some places, but chiefly in the North of England, called a Want, and, contrary to most other vermin, lives chiefly under ground; its skin is of a fine black jet colour, very smooth and soft, and has short legs, with which they, with incredible swiftness, will dig themselves into the earth when they apprehend any danger; they are supposed by some people to be entirely blind, it being in many places proverbial to say _as blind as a mole_, but this is a mistake, for they have eyes as well as other vermin, but very small, appearing scarcely larger than the head of a common pin, but sufficient to serve their purposes, their residence being, as was before observed, generally under the earth.

These animals do great mischief in gardens and grounds, and if you find they come observe the outsides, for their angle, or run; or, if there is a path in a field, it is very probable but they have a run across the path, or at a gate-way, they will frequently have one; these are what we call the main runs, and about two or three inches under the earth, and may very easily be found by the heaving up of the mould or earth, along which they will run ten times in a day. When you have discovered one of these runs, you must tread in the earth tight, and when you come that way again, see whether it is as you left it, and if you perceive the Mole has been along, then set a trap, by which means I have caught several of them in an afternoon; these being their main roads out of one part of the ground to the other, for it will be of little signification to set a trap in any other angles or runs, and if you should, it may possibly remain a great while before a Mole comes; for in the spring, when they run near the surface of the earth, they make a great many different angles in search of the worms, on which and chaffers their chief food consists.