Full revelations of a professional rat-catcher, after 25 years' experience

UC-NRLF

SB 301 lib

F REVELATIONS

PROFESSIONAL RAT-CATCHER

After 25 Years' Experience,

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

FULL REVELATIONS

OF A

Tefessienal Wai-catcher,

?

After 25 Years Experience.

BY

IKE MATTHEWS,

MANCHESTER :

THE FRIENDLY SOCIETIES' PRINTING COMPANY. LIMITED,
PENDLETON PEINTEBIES, WITHINGTON STBEET, PENDLETON.

1898.

INTRODUCTION.

IN placing before my readers in the following
pages the results of my twenty-five years'
experience of Bat-catching, Ferreting, &c., I
may say that I have always done my best to
accomplish every task that I have undertaken,
and I have in consequence received excellent
testimonials from many corporations, railway
companies, and merchants. I have not only
made it my study to discover the different and
the best methods of catching Rats, but I have
also taken great interest in watching their
ways and habits, and I come to the conclusion
that there is no sure way of completely
exterminating the Rodents, especially in large
towns. If I have in this work referred more
particularly to Rat-catching in Manchester
that is only because my experience, although
extending over a much wider area, has been
chiefly in that city, but the methods I describe
are equally applicable to all large towns.

Yours truly,
IKE MATTHEWS.
PEOFESSIONAL RAT-CATCHEE,
PENDLETON,

MANCHESTEE.

The Revelations of a Rat-catcher.

PAET I.

HOW TO CLEAE EATS FEOM WAEE-
HOUSES, OFFICES, STOEEEOOMS, &c.

IN the first place my advice is — never poison
Eats in any enclosed buildings whatever.
Why ? Simply because the Eats that you
poison are Drain Eats, or what you call Black
Eats, and you can depend upon it that the
Eats that you poison will not get back into
the drains, but die under the floor between
the laths and plaster, and the consequence is
that in a few days the stench that will arise
will be most obnoxious. And there is nothing
more injurious than the smell of a decomposed
Eat.

Having had a long experience in Manchester
I am quite sure of this. As an instance, I
remember a private house where I was engaged
catching Eats under a floor with ferrets.^ I
went as far as possible on my belly under the
floor with two candles- in my hands, and I saw

M37Q931

REVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEK.

the ferret kill a large bitch Eat, about six
yards from me against a wall, where neither
the dog nor myself could get at it. I finished
the job and made out my bill for my services,
but in about two or three weeks after they
again sent for me, declaring they could not
stay in the sitting-room on account of the
smell that arose from beneath the flooring
boards. They had in consequence to send
for a joiner ; and as I knew the exact spot
where the Eat was killed I ordered him to
take up the floor boards just where the dead
Eat lay, and the stench that arose from the
decomposed Eodent was bad in the extreme.
I disinfected the place, and I was never sent
for again. This was under a cold floor, and
it is much worse where there is any heat.

Now to deal with the different methods of
catching Eats. The best way, in my opinion, is

TEAPPING THEM WITH STEEL SPEING TEAPS.
Whenever you are trapping, never on any
consideration put bait on the traps ; always
put traps in their runs, but you will find Eats
are so cunning that in time, after a few have
been caught, they will jump over the traps,
and then you must try another way. A good
one is the following, viz. : — Get a bag of fine,
clean sawdust, and mix with it about one-sixth
its weight of oatmeal. Obtain the sawdust

TKAPPING.

fresh from under the saw, without bits of
stick in, as these would be liable to get into
the teeth of the trap and stop them from
closing. Where you see the runs put a
handful in say about 30 different places, every
night, just dropping the sawdust and meal
out of your hands in little heaps. That
means 30 different heaps. Do this for four
nights, and you will see each morning that
the sawdust is all spread about. Now for
four more nights you must bury a set trap
under every heap of sawdust. Thus you
will have 30 traps, on each of which there is
a square centre plate; you must level the
sawdust over the plate with a bit of stick, and
set each trap as fine as you can on the catch
spring, so that the weight of a mouse would
set it off. They will play in the sawdust
as usual, and you will have Eats in almost
every trap. You will find that this plan will
capture a great many of the Eodents. I have
trapped as many as 114 in one night in this
way.

In time, however, the Eats will cease to go
near sawdust. Then you must procure a bag
of fine soot from any chimney sweep, and
you will find that they will go at the soot just
as keen as they did in the first instance at the
sawdust. When they get tired of soot (which

6 EEVELATIONS OF A KAT-CATCHEB.

they will in time) you must procure some soft
tissue paper and cut it fine, and use that in the
same way as the sawdust and the soot. You
can also use light chaff or hay seeds with the
like result.

I must not omit to tell my readers to always
trap Eats in the night, and to go very quietly
about it, for if you make much noise they will
give over feeding. You must not go about
with too big a light whilst trapping. You
should stay at the building from dark until
midnight, and every time a Eat is caught in
the trap you should go with a bull's eye lamp,
take it out of the trap or kill it, and then set
the trap again, as you have the chance of
another Eat in the same trap. From
experience I can say that you need not stay
in any place after 12 o'clock at night, as I
think that the first feed is the best, and that
the first three hours are worth all the other
part of the night. You can go home at 12
o'clock, and be sure to be in the place by 6 or
7 a.m., for many a Eat caught in the trap by
the front leg will, if it gets time, eat oft its leg
and get away again, and they are very cunning
to catch afterwards.
NEVEB HAVE YOUB TBAPS SET IN THE DAYTIME.

Handle them as little as possible. Always
catch as many Eats as you can in your

TRAPPING.

buildings in January and February, as they
begin to breed in March, and every bitch Eat
means, on the average, eight more. Also get
as much ferreting done as possible before
breeding time, for a young Rat can get into
the ends of the joisting under a floor, where a
ferret cannot get near it, and the consequence
is that a ferret is unable to cope with its task.
The best thing I can advise for clearing young
Rats is a good cat, one that must not be
handled nor made a pet of, but allowed to live
in almost a wild state. A good cat can do as
much, in my opinion, in one night, when Rats
are breeding, as two ferrets can do in a day,
especially in a building where there are cavity
walls, as it is impossible for a ferret to follow a
Rat in such walls.

This is all the information I am able to give
on the trapping of Rats — a method I have
proved by 25 years' experience to excel all
others. Still another way of clearing the
pests is as follows : — The majority of Rats are
Black, or what we call Drain Rats ; if they are
in a building they will in most cases come
from a water-closet. Sometimes you will see
from the drain pipes in the water-closet, say, a
six-inch pipe fitted into a nine-inch pipe, and
the joint covered round with clay, through
which the Rats eat and scratch and get into

8 KEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEK.

the building in great numbers in the night,
but most of them return into the drains
during the day. Now, if it is the breeding
season (about eight months out of the
twelve) they will do much damage to silk,
cotton, leather, lace, and, in fact, all other
light goods. And one would be surprised to
see the quantity of cloth, paper, &c., they will
procure for their nests whilst breeding.

The way to get clear of these is to go in the
day with two or three ferrets and leave
the drain pipe open. Ferret them all back
into the drain ; don't put a net over the drain
for fear you might miss one or two. If they
got back into the building they would be hard
to catch, as they would not face the net again.
Then, after ferreting, make the drain good,
and if there be an odd Eat or two left in the
building you will get them in a few nights
by baiting the trap.

There is another way of catching the Brown
Bat which breeds under the floor in large
buildings where there are no drains. They
are very awkward to catch. Always have a
trap or two set, but do not set them where
they feed ; place them in their runs. But
there are other methods for other Kat-
infested places. For instance, take a
restaurant, where they feed in the cooking

TKAPPING.

kitchen; we will suppose they have eaten four
holes through either floor or skirting boards.
The best way to catch these — however many
holes they have leading into the kitchen — is
to block up (with tin or similar material) all
the holes with the exception of one, and let
them use that one for two nights. Then put
a plateful of good food, such as oatmeal and
oil of aniseed, as far from the hole as you can
in the same kitchen ; then run a small train
of meal and aniseed from the hole to the plate.
Next drive two six-inch nails in the wall, with
a long piece of string tied to the nail
heads. Put on these nails a brick or piece of
board right above the hole 2in. up the wall.
Be sure the nails are quite loose in the wall
over the hole, and leave in that position for
two nights, so that the Bats will get used to
it. On the night that you are going to catch
them, before leaving the place carry the string
from the nail heads to the door or window ; let
the door or window be closed within an inch,
with the end of the string outside. After the
place has been quiet for thirty minutes return
to the door or window very quietly, and you
will hear the Eats feeding. Pull the string,
the loose nails come out of the wall and the
brick or board drops over the hole. You can
then go in, close the door, turn up the gas and

10 EEVELATIONS OF A RAT-CATCHEK.

catch or kill them at your leisure, as they
cannot get back again.

By this method I may mention that I have
caught a great number of Eats, and it is quite
possible to clear a place in this manner : that
is, if they do not come out of the drains. I
have caught upwards of 103 in six nights in
this way. The best time to catch Eats in any
building is always at night, and always about
half-an-hour after the place has been closed, as
Eats are generally more adventurous to come
for their first feed. Always go about as quietly
as possible.

In some of the very old Manchester buildings-
that were built in the days before drain plans
had to be submitted to the corporation, one
finds under the cellar floors old-fashioned brick
and flag drains (better known as "spit"
drains), that were left in wrhen the place was
built. Once the Eats get in these disused
drains all the professional Eat-catchers in
England could not clear them without pulling
the building dowrn. The Eats have, by some
means, got out of the main sewer, probably
by the bursting of a sewer into one of these
disused dry brick drains. It is then impossible
to get underground to see where they have got
into the dry drain, and the only thing that can
be done in a case of this sort is to engage a

TKAPPING. 11

professional Rat-catcher occasionally, and keep
two or three good cats to keep the Rats down.
These places as a rule are more plagued with
them when it is very wet weather and there
are floods running. This is the best time to
catch them, as they are all under the floor of
the building, and are very easy to catch in the
night with the traps.

As a rule the Black or Drain Rats feed only
in the night, very rarely in the day, as they
are of a dirty nature, and prefer being in the
drains. In my opinion the Black Rat is more
vicious than the Brown.

There is another Rat I call the Red Rat,
which is akin to the Brown Rat. You will
always catch these at a tannery, or about
kennels, where hounds are kept, and they
generally feed on horseflesh or offal. Red Rats
are the "gameist" Rats I know, for whatever
kind of Rats are put into the store cage, these
Red Rats kill them the first night they are left
quiet.

I may describe another mode of catching
Rats. In any Rat-overrun warehouse, store-
room, or cellar, where there is a deal of rubbish
such as packing cases, wrappers, waste paper,
(fee., throw a lot of food, say oatmeal or soaked
bread, carelessly amongst the cases or rubbish
and let the Rats have a full week's feeding at

12 REVELATIONS OF A HAT -CAT CHER.

their leisure, and then if you know the holes
round the floor wherefrom they come, go in
some night as quick as possible, turn up the
lights, run to the three or four holes, and block
them up with pieces of rag, &c. Now7 as all
the Eats wdll not run out of the packing cases
or waste paper, but will hide amongst the same,
this is the time to take a good terrier dog or
two with you, and to have a bit of sport. Let
one dog hunt among the cases, &c., and hold
the other, for the Eats will soon make for the
holes, but the rags preventing their escape you
will catch and kill a great many by this means.

It should be stated here that as Eats are
very cunning, it takes a lot of study, dodging,
and experience to be able to rid them entirely.
When you are feeding Eats anywhere, never
feed them with other than soft stuff, which you
can squeeze through your fingers, for if you
feed them with anything lumpy, they will carry
pieces into their holes and eat at their leisure.
FERRETING.

Ferreting is a very good plan for destroying
Eats in cottage houses, stables, hotels, &c., as
it can be done in the day, but in buildings, say
five ro six storeys high you cannot ferret very
well as you cannot tell where to set your nets.
The only way to ferret a large building is to
ferret one floor at once, and always start at the

FERKETING. 13

top storey first. The majority of floors are
laths and plaster. This is what the Eat likes,
especially the Brown Eat, and there are more
nests found in these places than anywhere else.
To ferret thoroughly in such places you will
require to have a board up at each end of the
floor : the two end boards that run crossways
with the joist ; then you must have a man to
put the ferret in at one end, and ferret one
joist at a time; have a net set at the other end.
The best way at the catching end is to have a
long sheet net about a yard wide, and the full
length of the boards that are up, for sometimes
under the boards the Eats can get out of one
joist into another, and if you use the long net
you can catch them whichever joist they bolt at.

Now we will suppose you are ferreting a
seven- storey building, which might occupy
three or four days. If you have ferreted two
stories the first day, during the night the Eats
that have not been ferreted on the lower stories
may get back again to the top storey.

How to prevent .this happening I will give
you a plan of my own, which I don't think any
Eat-catcher but myself has ever employed.
The course of action — a rather expensive one
I admit — is the following : While you have the
boards up you must go to the druggist and get
two shillings' worth of cayenne pepper, and put

14 EEVELATIONS OF A KAT-CATCHEK.

it into a pepper duster. Scatter the cayenne
along the boards and joist where you have
had the long sheet net, and also along the other
end of the joist where you put the ferrets in,
and you will find that under no consideration
will Eats face the cayenne pepper. Cayenne
is alright for any dry place and will last a long
time, but it will not do in any water closets or
any damp places, as dampness takes all the
nature out of the cayenne.

After ferreting in any kind of building, always
go carefully round the outside, and see that
there are no broken air grids, or broken cellar
windows, as these are likely wrays that the Eats
.get into the building at first. When ferreting
always be careful how you set your nets, and
be extremely quick on the Eats when they
bolt, for sometimes if they get back they will
face the ferret before they will bolt again; then
the ferrets kill them under the floors, and this
as in the case of poisoning them is liable to
cause an abominable smell, more especially
where heat is near.

In the wrhole of my experience of Bat-
catching, which is a lengthy one, I never gave
a guarantee to clear a place completely, in
Manchester or any other town where so many
large buildings are so close together. And let
me show the reason for this. Take Cannon

FERRETING. 15

Street, Manchester, as an illustration. Here
are six or eight different firms in one block of
buildings. Now, suppose four of these firms
are suffering from the damage the Eats are
doing. Well, one or two of these firms may
go to the expense of having the Eats cleared
away. But between the two buildings there
may be a hardware business or ironmonger's
shop, where Eats cannot do any harm to their
goods. The owners of these shops will not go
to the expense of having Eats caught, nor will
they let us go into their shops at midnight ;
therefore the result is the Eat-catcher in his
trapping and ferretting is limited to these two
places, and all he can do is to catch some and
drive the rest into the hardware shop. When
under the floors in such places one finds there
has been so many alterations made at different
times that one joist may be a foot or six
inches below the other, and when the Eats are
completely driven out of these places it would
require joiners and bricksetters to work for weeks
under the floors to stop the Eats returning.
And most firms will not go to this expense. I
only give my readers this as an illustration of
what has often happened with me, and to
show why I never guarantee to clear Eats
completely in large towns. If they are in a
private house, stable, greenhouse, or any block

16 KEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

of houses, of say five or six, I might then, after
looking through, give a guarantee to clear them
completely.

These are the fullest details I can give you,
and if you will put any of the ways I have
mentioned into practice you will find that they
are all successful, especially the covering of
traps. I can give you just one more instance
in Manchester, where I was engaged. The
workpeople had been tormenting the Eats with
traps, not knowing how to set them. They
sent for me, and on my looking round the
place I knew there was a lot of Eats. I
submitted my price to do the job, and when I
went down one night with 40 traps, dog, and
two ferrets I thought I should catch 20 or 30
Eats, but I found that they had plagued them
so much with their attempted trapping that
I only caught three in the whole night. This
place belonged to a limited company, and
when I went before the committee the next
morning they were not satisfied. I told them
that their own workpeople had tormented the
Eats so much with traps that the Eats would
not go near one. I then told the committee
that I would still stick to my terms, but I
would leave the job over for a fortnight. Now
during that fortnight I went down a good
many times, and laid the sawdust as I have

FEKRETING. 17

already described, and thus got the Eats used
to it. The first night that I went catching I
took with me 33 traps. I had them all set by
8-30 p.m., and by 12-30 a.m. I had trapped 45
Rats ; the next night 31 Eats ; and before I
completed the job, with the trapping and the
other ways that I have mentioned, I caught
]S3 Eats! This I give merely as an
illustration to show the necessity of engaging
an experienced man to catch Eats — that is, if
you want them caught. And to confirm the
statements above, I shall be most happy to
supply privately the name and place of the
firm, and also to give a personal interview if
necessary.

And now a word or two respecting the
different ways in which Eat-catchers are
treated. Many people think that a Eat-
catcher is favoured if they give him permission
to catch Eats on their farms or round the
banks of their corn or wheat fields. Well, on
some occasions I grant this may be a favour>
for I have seen when I have had an order in
hand for about 10 dozen Eats, and have had
only a day or two in which to get them. Such
are the only times and circumstances when a
Eat-catcher gives his services gratis, and
simply because he wrants the live Eats. Most
farmers will send you word when they are

18 BEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

threshing their corn, and then the value of the
Eats are worth the day's work to the Eat-
catcher.

This is all right as far as it goes, but when
one comes to consider the yearly expenses of
the Eat-catcher it will be found that they are
very heavy. Now, first of all it will cost, at
the least, £5 annually for the wear and tear of
traps alone, then there is the wear and tear of
nets ; two dog licences ; always three or four
ferrets to keep (and ferrets are often lost down
drains or killed by Eats); also sundry other
expenses, such as store cages, &c. Then,
again, the Eat-catcher always has to pay a
man to help him.

I don't call Bat-catching a trade only: I
maintain that it is a profession, and one that
requires much learning and courage. I have
found this out when I have been under a
warehouse floor, where a lot of Eats were in
the traps, and I could not get one man out of
50 to come under the floor and hold the
candle for me, not to mention helping me to
take the live Eats out of the traps. I just
relate this because at some places where we go
and where we catch perhaps 30 Eats, the
first thing they say when the bill is presented
is "Why, you have got 15s. worth of live Eats! "
They don't think of the damage 30 Eats can do

FERRETING. 19

to fancy goods, nor do they consider the evil
smells that men have to tolerate under the
floors or from the bad drains.

I could relate many interesting anecdotes
of what I have seen and heard about Eats, but
I fear its perusal might take up too much of
my readers' time. There is, however, one thing

I will mention. I dare say you have heard of
Eats running about in "swarms" in the night.
Do not believe it. In my whole experience I
have never been so fortunate as to meet a
" swarm" of these, when I have had an
•empty cage on my back, and an order for 12
dozen live Eats at 5s. per dozen. When
trapping at farms on a moonlight night I have
seen a train of Eats almost in single file going
from a barn to a pit or brook to drink, and
then I have simply run a long net all along
the barn very quickly, sent my dog round the
pit and caught all the Eats in the net when
they ran back to get in the barn. For in
these places you must be as cunning as the
Eats to catch them. The quickest way for a
farmer to get rid of Eats is to run a long trail
of good oatmeal outside his barn doors, and
.shoot them on a moonlight night. I have seen

II killed at a shot in this way. They will stop
•eating the oatmeal because they cannot carry
it away. At farms or out-houses you might

20 BEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEB.

poison Eats round a pit or along brook sides-
where they go to drink, although I don't believe
in poisoning, as one never knows where it ends
—the Eats being likely to carry the poisoned
food about, and then dogs, hens, pigs, pigeons,,
&c., may pick it up.

There may be a few more ways of catching
Eats than I have enumerated, but I think I
have given the best ways in detail. Some,
people think that to use

THE MONGOOSE

is very good, but I think that the mongoose is
no better than a good fox terrier dog or a good
cat, the only advantage in the mongoose being
that all the Eats it kills it will bring back dead
to its habitation, and that stops the dead
Eats from smelling under the floors. I think
that the mongoose is not half so sly or sharp
as a good cat, and a mongoose, moreover, has-
to be taught how to kill a Eat (just the same
as a dog). I am fortunate in having actually
seen a mongoose and a Eat put alive in a tub
together, and the mongoose would not even
look at the Eat. And I maintain that the
mongoose cannot compare with the ferret,
anytime, for the simple reason that a small
ferret can get anywhere that a Eat can,
whilst the mongoose must wait until the Eat.
•comes out to feed. For instance, if a board

DRUGS AND CHEMICALS. 21

of a floor be left up for a mongoose to
get under the floor, it can only get into one of
the joists; but a ferret can follow a Eat
wherever it goes. Then again, the Eats can
smell a mongoose even more strongly than
they can smell a cat. So these facts prevent
my recommending a mongoose on any account.
I have also heard of people experimenting with
different sorts of

DRUGS AND CHEMICALS

for enticing Eats out of their holes. I hope
none of my readers will be attracted with this
•device. I hold that there is nothing that will
tempt a Eat from its hole like hunger. The
nearest approach that I have found to entice
the Eodent out of its hole is oil of aniseed or
oil of rhodium, but the latter is expensive.
I can rely best on oil of aniseed, because I
have often successfully tried it in experiment
upon the plate of a set trap. I have placed
only three or four drops of oil of aniseed upon
the plate of a set trap without bait, and often
the trap has closed and trapped the Eat by the
nose ; so that it will be seen that the Eat must
have been licking the plate, or it could not be
caught in that manner. I have also frequently
noticed when I have set, say, 20 traps covered
with meal and - sawdust mixed, that if I have
put only two drops of oil of aniseed on half the

22 REVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

traps I should find next morning on looking at
the traps that most Eats are in those in which
I had placed the aniseed. I think that oil of
rhodium and oil of aniseed are very good to
drop on the traps after setting, or to mix with
the stuff with which the traps are covered.

There is also another way of bolting Eats,
Sometimes when the ferret is put under a
boarded floor, all the Eats will run together
and pack themselves in a heap at the end of a
joist. When the Eats pack themselves on
each other thus, the ferret on reaching them
will tackle only one at a time. You can
always tell when this happens by the ferret
working a long time and bolting no Eats.
Now, immediately you notice this, put your
mouth near the hole wiiere you have put the
ferrets in, and make a squealing noise with
your mouth to imitate a squealing Eat. This
causes the heap of Eats at the end of the joist
to disperse through fear, and when they get
running about they will bolt into the net..
Many times I have not had a bolt for half-an-
hour and when I have squealed at the hole I
have had four or five Eats in the nets at once.

These are some of the methods of clearing
Eats from various places, and from experience
I think they excel all others.

PAKT II.

HOW TO KEEP AND WOEK FEBBETS,

TITHE first necessity in ferret-keeping is that
they shall be kept in hutches or "cotes," as
they are commonly called. Care must always
be taken to have their places well swilled with
carbolic water, and then allowed to thoroughly
dry before whitewashing the inside, which is-
also essential to keep them healthy. This
should be done at least four times a year.
Always have your hutches leaning from the
wall, so that wet or refuse will not lodge 7
for when the bottom of a hutch is always wet
it is liable to give the ferrets a disease called
foot rot, which is very frequent where ferrets
are neglected. Always keep the feeding part
of the hutch well covered with sawdust.

In feeding ferrets for the purpose of Bat-
catching, never do so before going out with
them ; I think it is quite sufficient to feed
them every 24 hours. If you feed them
oftener they are liable to get too fat, and also
lazy and unwilling to work as they should.
The best food you can give them is bread and

24 KEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEK.

milk, and occasionally a little raw liver. Mix
the bread and milk with a little hot water, stir
well with a spoon or squeeze through your
fingers, so that the ferrets will have to eat ib
wrhere you feed them ; if not they will carry
the large pieces of bread that are wet into the
corners of the sleeping place, which would
soon cause that part of the hutch to smell
very sour and become injurious to the health
of the ferret, especially where four or five
are kept together, as they are of a very
perspiring nature. Always give them plenty
of room to run about when you can ; if you
don't they are likely to take cramp.

Ferrets are usually subject to distemper.
The first symptom is the ferret's neglect of
its food. When you see this you will observe
a little matter at the corner of the eyes, and
the ferret will have a slight running at the
nostrils. Immediately you see these symptoms
separate that ferret from the others, as this is,
I think, the worst disease one has to contend
with.

In the whole of my ferret-keeping experience
I have found distemper, if caught in time, can
be cured; but if it gets too far I know of no
€ure for it. I have known a gamekeeper to
have dogs with the distemper, and he has not
touched his ferrets or handled them at all

DISTEMPEK IN FERRETS. 25

during the time his dogs were bad, yet a week
afterwards his ferrets caught the disease. He
tried all the remedies he knew of, but in 14
days 12 hitherto good, strong, healthy ferrets
died : all he had. This will show at once that
the disease is very contagious. The moment
you see signs of distemper coming on feed the
ferret as little as possible. Give it as little to
eat as will just keep life in it, for in feeding
the ferret you also feed the disease. When
you have kept the food from it is the time to
start curing if possible. Now, from experience
the first thing I recommend is to sweat the
disease out of it, and I find the best way to do
this is as follows : — Get an old bucket with a
few one-inch holes bored in the bottom, and
almost fill it with good new straw horse-
droppings; put a little hay on the top of the
droppings, and -then put the ferret on the hay.
Place or hang the bucket over a boiler or on
the mantelpiece, and let the kettle steam
under the bucket, say for 30 minutes, and you
will find the steam and the ammonia from the
droppings will together sweat the disease out
of the ferret; then you can start feeding it
again. Feed it with something substantial,
such as the jelly from stewed co wheels ; give
them the jelly only, not the meat ; and you
will have a good result. Also give them

26 REVELATIONS OF A RAT-CATCHEB.

teaspooiiful of cream. This is the one and
only cure for distemper.

Another disease in ferrets' especially young-
ones, is what I call " red mange." This starts-
always under the belly, and you will find that
the skin becomes very red and speckled. This
is easily remedied by the simple process of
washing in lukewarm water and rubbing with
swreet oil and black sulphur. The same
mixture will answer for " foot rot " if rubbed
well into the paws. The general cause of this,
latter disease is neglect of the ferrets and the
hutches not being cleaned out regularly.

I think the best bedding for ferrets is good
oat straw, fresh every fortnight. Throw the
straw in carelessly, and the ferrets will make
their own beds. When breeding ferrets never-
go near them more than you can help, as
they are of a wild nature and liable to destroy
their young. When you know a Jill or bitch
ferret has young, give her a little extra good
food, but don't interfere with the young ones
on any account, and if you want to give her a
little extra bedding put the straw in the same
place as the food, and she will take it into the
sleeping place herself. It is advisable not to
touch the young ones for five weeks, or better
still, leave them until they come out to feed
themselves ; and when running about, if there

WORKING FERRETS.

be a good number, say nine or ten, in the lot,
it is a good plan to remove them into a larger
place for sleeping, as young ferrets are very
liable to catch the red mange, which arises
from too many being together and sweating-
very much.

WHEN WORKING FERRETS FOR BAT-CATCHING
always wrork them unmuzzled. Make as little
noise as possible, as Eats are very bad to bolt
sometimes. Never grab at the ferret as it
leaves the hole, nor tempt it out of the hole
with a dead Eat. The best way is to let the
ferret come out of its own choice, and then
pick it up very quietly, for if you grab at it it
is likely to become what we 'call a " stopper ;"'
and never on any account force a ferret to go
into a hole.

WHEN WORKING FERRETS FOR BABBIT-SHOOTING
always muzzle them. The old-fashioned style-
of muzzle is, I think, the best, that is, made
with string. I don't approve of wire muzzles,
as they are liable to catch against tree roots,
and bits of sharp stones, and from experience-
I find the ferret works much better with the
string muzzle.

There is one way of working ferrets when
rabbit-shooting which, if followed, I think
would lead to a better day's shooting. You
will often see the ferrets stick up with the

28 REVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEK.

rabbits. Now, in most cases the gamekeeper
or his man working the ferrets will often cut
open a dead rabbit and put the paunch to the
hurrow. I quite agree as to the desirability of
this to get the ferrets out, but I say that the
man using the ferrets ought never to touch
the paunch, as the ferrets will not work half
so well after he has the smell of the paunch
on his hands.

Another bad plan is that of throwing a
•dead rabbit into the burrow so that the ferret
will follow it out The best plan is to let
the ferret get clear of the hole, and then
pick it up quietly. If you will break your
ferrets in in this manner you will never
have any trouble with them afterwards.

When ferrets are conveyed about for the
purpose of rabbiting, boxes are much better
to use than bags, as the ferrets then get a
better chance of resting. If bags be used you
disturb the ferrets' rest and position each time
you remove one. Take care to observe this
and it will result in a good day's sport.

Always take your ferrets home as quickly
.as possible after a day's work.

Ferrets kept only for rabbit-shooting should
.always be fed as soon as the day's work is
over, but thay must not have more food till
the same time the following day. If fed in

WOEKING FEKBETS.

this way regularly you will find that they
will work very well. It is also advisable to-
let them drink at a stream when they have
worked about three hours.

When ferrets have been ast in a rabbit
burrow7, their paws may be full of down with
scratching at the rabbits. Always remove
this before placing them to another burrow.
Each time you handle the ferret see that the
muzzle is alright, and in muzzling with string
great care should be taken to remove the long
hair on the snout from under the string ;
otherwise the ferret may experience a tickling
sensation, and not wrork so well as it should ;
see also that the string is tied tightly around
the ferret's neck ; if not it can easily pull off
the muzzle with its pawrs.

Whenever a ferret is severely bitten by a Eat
the best course to take immediately you get-
it home is to bathe the wound in clean
luKe-wrarm water. See that all the dirt is
removed, and then apply a few drops of sweet
oil to the wound. Eepeat this every four hours-
until the wound is healed, but until then do not
work the ferret lest more dirt gets into the
wound. My experience proves this to be the
best w^ay to cure a ferret when it has received
a severe Rat-bite.

It is also a good plan occasionally (say~

-3,0 REVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

.once a fortnight) to skin a nice young Eat and
give it to the ferret.

SUITABLE DOGS.

And now a word or two as to what is a good
dog for waterside hunting, or working with the
ferrets. I recommend a cross-bred dog, but I
find that it is always better to have the
pointer breed in it, whatever other breed you
.get, because the pointer always has the nose
or scent. Pointer and Airedale would be very
good, or pointer and Irish terrier. I have
often noticed that pure-bred dogs are not
much good for hunting in buildings or rivers.
I have frequently seen a cross-bred dog stand
at one side of the river, and if the wind has
been in his favour he has winded his nose
across the river, and I have sent him OA^er and
he has turned a Eat out, bolted it into the
water, and killed it.

The best precaution to take in breaking a
dog to Bat-catching and waterside hunting
(especially if it be a puppy) is to never allow
.anybody but yourself to have anything to do
with it, it being the worst thing possible to let
a working dog have too many masters. Break
it in to the ferrets first, and then it is a good
plan to go up the river banks, with either a
dead Eat or rabbit skin, letting the dog play
with it for a while, and then burying it about

SUITABLE DOGS. 31

18 inches in the river bank; or you may pull
up a clod and put it under, only you must not
let the dog see where you place it. Then take
the dog with you near to where the rat or skin
is buried, and you will soon see that the dog
knows its wTork. Do this a few times, and you
will see that once the dog finds the dead
Rat or the skin it wrill never forget. The
younger the dog the better, the right age to
break a puppy this way being about four or five
months. Break it in for taking to the water
at the same time. If you want a good working
dog always keep it on the chain when at home,
and feed it at the same time as the ferrets, but
do not over-feed it ; also give it one dose of
castor oil or syrup of buckthorn every 14 days.
I recommend this because you never know the
nasty poisonous stuff that the dog gets on its
.stomach from the dirty brook and river sides.

Let me add that all I have written about
ferrets and dogs are not given merely from
hearsay, but are the facts derived [from study
and experience during 25 years of dog and
ferret-keeping.

PAET III.

THE HABITS OF EATS.

OATS breed very quickly. This I have often
proved by visiting a given haunt for many
years together. I remember an instance in
point one June, when out with dog and ferrets.
The dog made a set under the root of a tree.
I put the ferret in and it bolted eight young
Eats, nearly half grown, still suckling the bitch
Eat. When the old Eat bolted my dog killed
it, and whilst the dog was shaking it I found
she was very heavy in young again. This,
therefore, will prove how quickly Eats breed.

Another result of my observation may be of
interest to my readers. After removing a lot
of old rubbish when ratting I came upon a
nest of just-born Eats, and, in curiosity, I
cut the tails off the lot, and then put the young
Eodents back, leaving the nest undisturbed.
When I returned next day, I found the old
Eat had carried all her young away, and, later,
I found the same tailless lot in another part of
the building, and, after disturbing them again,
I found the following day that the bitch Eat
had killed every one by eating of! their heads.

HABITS OF EATS. 33

This destruction of the offspring I have wit-
nessed on more than one occasion. The old
bitch Eat has always killed them in the same
way by eating off their heads.

I must not forget to tell you of the young
Eat's dread of the ferrets. I have often seen
when the ferrets have been put in the hole the
young Eats (not many days old and their eyes
yet unopened) creep out of the hole. This is
a proof that the smell of the ferrets has a
tendency to bolt Eats, either young or old.

Old Eats are very bold whilst suckling their
young. I have seen them very venturesome
to get to water, and more eager for water than
for food. I have often traced their runs a long
way for water, and noticed that when crossing
a field to get to a pit or river they never walk,
but are always on the run ; and in the summer,
when they reach the pit, they not only drink,
but often swim about. I have frequently
watched them swimming on a moonlight
night, but they generally go back to the
buildings in the early morning, especially in
the winter months.

Another habit I have often noticed. Take
a farm, or any place where there are many
Eats, and it will be always found' that when a
Eat gets very old it becomes very greyish in
colour and rather scabbed, and its hair comes

34 EEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEB.

off, mostly on the back. The healthy Eats
will then drive the old Eat away, and these
scabby old Eats may be caught by themselves
in other parts of the buildings; and, further,
I often notice that if the ferrets are bitten
with these old Eats, they "take bad ways."
I never put such Eats with the others nor allow
my dog to kill them. I would advise any
gentleman having a dog he values never to let
it touch one of these old scabby Eats, as it
may prove injurious to the health of the dog.

It is surprising how far Eats will travel in
the night. I have traced their tracks from a
stackyard over two or three fields to a farm to
get to their food. And you will always find
that they have one time for feeding, which is
as soon as it is dusk, the young Eats being the
most venturesome for their food, always
coming out first.

Eats, especially stackyard ones, are of a
very clean nature. You will find that after
they have had their first feed they diligently
wash themselves. These Eats feed on nothing
but good stuff, such as wheat, corn, and meal;
and from experience I find that if a man is
bitten on the hand by one of these Brown or
Stack Eats it never "takes bad ways," but, if
bitten by a dirty Drain Eat, then whether he
cauterises or bathes the wound is no matter,

HABITS OF BATS. 35

it is sure to "take bad ways." I think the
reason of this is because the Drain Eat, when
it cannot get anything else to eat, exists on
the worms and slugs, and this, I think, causes
the teeth to become more venomous. When
bitten in this way blood poisoning is very
likely to ensue. Indeed, you must understand
that the teeth of a full-grown Eat are quite
half-an-inch long, and the jaw is very strong,
so that if you are bitten on the finger it is
almost sure to penetrate to the bone. I have
known a good many cases of blood poisoning
through Eat-bites.

The damage Eats can do to property, com-
modities, &c., is almost incredible. I have
had so many examples of this that I scarcely
know which to submit as illustration. I think
the worst case I have seen was where they
gnawed a hole half way through a 2 J inch lead
pipe, and often I have known them to bite
through a one-inch lead pipe. The worst
damage is done when they get under the flag
floors of cottage houses out of the drains.
They scratch the soil from beneath the flags,
which then sink, and the consequent stench
from the drains is abominable, jeopardising
the health of the tenants. I have seen a
great many of these cases in the poorer parts
of Manchester. The damage the Eats will do

36 BEVELATIONS OF A BAT-CATCHEB.

in the silk and similar trades, to the goods of
merchants, or in the grocery business, is
enormous, and not so much by reason of what
they actually eat as by what they carry away,
which is often ten times as much as they eat.
I have often proved this when ferreting at a
wholesale grocery warehouse. When we have
taken up the boards between the laths and
plaster we have found the ceiling almost
full of lump sugar, nuts, candles, &c., which
have been there for years, hoarded by the
Eats. Now, this all means heavy loss, and
that is why I say that any business man so
suffering ought to enage the services of a
professional Eat-catcher once a year in order
to keep the Eats down, and catch as many as
possible before they begin breeding.

Another Eat habit may be noticed where the
Eodents are accustomed to have their holes
and runs among flags and stones. If they find
any soft wood such as pine or white deal, they
will nibble at it until it is eaten through. I
have often known them to eat right through
the legs of tables in the middle of cooking
kitchens. This, I think, they do simply to
keep their teeth clean and in order ; I have
known half -grown Eats to do the same.

Eats can exist a long time on herbage, if
if they can get nothing more palatable. It is

HABITS OF EATS, 37

a very common thing to find Eats in the rabbit
burrows when ferreting; in fact, I have
seen, not once, but many times, Eats, rabbits,
and weasels all bolt from the same burrow. I
have also unearthed a Eat and a rabbit
together out of one single burrow.

Now as to keeping Eats in store cages at
home. Look well after them, and I think it is
possible to keep them alive for quite a year ;
but if you keep, say, 20 in one store cage and
neglect their feeding, you will find that when
hungry in the night they will kill the weakest
of their number and eat it, sometimes even
eating two or three in one night, leaving the
skin as clean as if a man had skinned them.
It is always the best plan to put the Eats in
different cages, according to their sizes. The
young ones together, the old ones together, and
the middle-aged ones together, as they keep
themselves much cleaner when thus divided,
and do not fight so much as they would other-
wise. They must also be kept in a warm place ;
if not, they soon have cramp. Also keep them
in a dark place and see that they have plenty
of water ; sprinkle them now and then with it
so that they will wrash themselves. It is
astonishing what a hungry Eat will do. I
I have seen them in the summer at dusk run
at an old hen with her chickens under her,

38 REVELATIONS OF A BAT-CATCHEB.

and almost as quick as I tell it, the Rat has-
snatched a live chicken and run with it under
a pigsty floor.

I have known them to take half-grown young
ducks from the wrater side. I remember once
ferreting round a pit, near a barn, and when I
put my ferret in the hole, it pulled out two
dead chickens and three middle-sized dead
ducks, and behind them, not more than a yard
deep in the pit bank, was an old Eat. I have
also known them to get into the coops where
a gamekeeper was rearing his pheasants, and
to kill nine young ones in a single night all
from under the same hen.

Eats are also fond of eggs. I have read of
many ways in which Eats take eggs, but in my
quarter-of-a-century's experience of Batting
I never saw Eats take eggs save in one
way, and that is, dragging or rolling them
along the floor with their front paws, until
they get them to the mouth of the hole. I
remember one place where I was ferreting.
There was an old cellar, the door of which at
the top of the steps had to my knowledge been
nailed up two or three years. Out of the hen
house the Eats had eaten a hole at each side
of the cellar door at the bottom. One day we
burst open the door, went into the cellar (where
it was impossible for a hen to get whilst the

HABITS OF BATS.

door was closed) and beneath the bottom step
we caught two Bats. On lifting the flag at
the bottom of the steps, we found 15 whole
eggs, some good and some bad, all of which
I am quite satisfied the Eats had carried down
those nine stone steps ! How they had done
so I cannot explain, but content myself with
stating only the plain facts of my own personal
observation.

Eats are also very cunning in the water,
say a pit or a river. Now, a Eat can exist in
water for at most about seven minutes, and
you will find when a dog is swimming after a
Eat that the Eat is watching the dog all the
time, for as soon as the dog gets within a yard
of the Eat the latter will dive under water and
come to the surface again about 15 yards
away. When the dog has tired the Eat out
with swimming, you will very often see the
Eat dive again and come up very quietly and
just put its nose out of the water, or rest its
head on a floating leaf. It is so cunning that
it will remain still there, and if the leaf or reed
gives way it will come up at the water side
and just thrust out its nose to breathe. By
this means the dog loses full scent of the Eat.

I have also noticed how useful are the
Eat's front paws and tail. I have seen a Eat
on the top of a swill tub at a pigsty when the

40 REVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

swill has been about ten inches from the top
of the tub. The Eat was too cunning to jump
down on the wet swill and drown, but I saw it
reach as far down the inside of the tub as
possible with its front paws and scrape the
grease from around the sides! I have also
seen the same Eat, when unable to scrape
any further down the tub sides, turn round,
clutch the top of the tub with its front paws,
dip its tail into the swill, and then gain the
top of the tub and commence licking its tail !

I have also tried an experiment with the
same tub, which consisted of covering the top
of the wet swill with bran, which floated on
the surface, and placing a bit of lumpy swill
in the middle of the bran, in the hope that the
Eat would jump on the bran in the expectation
of getting at the swill in the middle. How-
ever, it did not do so, no doubt instinctively
guided against the danger.

I have also watched Eats run round a set
wire or cage trap for a full hour. I have seen
them go half way in and out again, look at the
bait and never touch it, but go away and never
return to the same trap that night. These
examples show the cunning instinct of Eats.

There is, however, one power that the Eat
is not favoured with, and I am afraid if they
were they would be a greater pest. It is the

HABITS OF EATS. 41

ability of high jumping. A Rat cannot, I
think, jump higher than three feet six inches,
and will have to be very hungry before doing
that to obtain food.

Many people may not know how fierce Eats
are when fighting. Let me instance. I have
often taken, one in each hand, two good Rats
from my cage before a hundred spectators and
set the Rats at each other on the top of a
table. To see them fight would be surprising.
They will fight like two bulldogs. When they
have got a grip of each other with their teeth
I have taken away my hands, and they have
stuck and shook one another for at least half-
a-minute, although you must understand that
the moment they are loose of one another
they are off if you don't catch them again.

There are several other cunning ways of
Rats which I can scarcely explain. One must
be amongst them regularly to know their
wonderful ways and habits. Yet another little
incident, in conclusion, may be of interest.
I once called at a farm where they had
been threshing a wheat stack. A Rat-catcher
had been there but without a dog, and when
I arrived two hours afterwards my dog made
a set, and commenced scratching amongst the
old chaff left at the bottom of the stack, and
to the astonishment of myself and the farmer

42 EEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

I pulled out of the hole where the dog was
scratching 73 live Eats! The other Bat-
catcher, who had been at the threshing all
day, had caught only 14 Eats. This will
serve to show that a Eat-catcher must not be
without a good dog.

And now, respecting the ways and habits
of Eats I think I have given my readers
interesting and varied illustrations of what I
have seen and experienced during my time.

PAET IV.

LIFE OF THE EAT-CATCHEE.

TTTHIS work will not be complete if I do not
deal with the Eat-catcher's life. The pro-
fession is a peculiar and exciting one, but all
right if pursued in the right way. Although
the calling takes one into dirty and obnoxious
places, there is no reason why the Eat-catcher
should not always appear respectable. The
Eat-catcher has many temptations to dishonest
conduct, for instance, wrhen Eat-catching on a
farm or private estate where there are numerous
rabbits and game. It looks rather hard lines
for the Eat-catcher to come off a farm with
his cage full of Eats and see rabbits running
about whilst he has all the requisites in
his possession for catching them ; and yet he
must not touch one, but go home and merely
reflect on what a good Sunday's dinner he
is leaving behind. This I have experienced
many a time, but I have always found even
from the business view-point that the old

44 REVELATIONS OF A RAT-CATCHER.

advice still remains true, " Honesty is the best
policy." Leaving the rabbits to themselves
has always turned out to be the best, for to
take a rabbit worth a shilling, and get caught
in the act, means that you can never go on
the same estate again. And from that same
estate you might have got 500 Eats in a year,
worth four shillings a dozen.

I must also put in a good word here for the
gamekeepers. My opinion is that if you go-
on a keeper's ground and do what is right, you
will be able to go again, for in the whole of my
experience never. having carried any nets but
Eat nets when on private estates, I have the
consolation of knowing that I should always
be welcome on going again to such estates.

Of course there are inconveniences that the
Eat-catcher has to put up with. Whatever
engagements he takes in a town, the only time
he can catch Eats with a good result is in the
night. On one occasion, when going round
with my bull's-eye lamp to examine the traps,
I was taken for a burglar by the policeman on
the beat, and he doubted me so much that he
would not release me until I had shown him
my cage with Eats in and my traps set all
over the place. Then he took almost as much
interest in the catching of Eats as myself, and
also brought in the other policemen who were

LIFE OF THE KAT-CATCHEK. 45

outside waiting for me to attempt an escape.
Ever after that, when I had a night's engage-
ment in any town, I always went to the
police station to tell the man on that beat
where I was.

It behoves the Rat-catcher to be always
attentive to his customers, those, I mean, who
want live Rats wherewith to try their dogs.
Amongst mine I have the honour to include
clients of highest rank and position, barristers,
magistrates, solicitors and a host of sporting
gentry. If the Rat-catcher's efforts commend
themselves to such gentlemen, and he
always maintains a respectable appearance,
he will obtain some very nice outings in the
country. Oft-times a party of gentlemen have
sent for me in the summer, having arranged
with me to bring four or five ferrets and Ratting
appliances, and we have gone 50 miles up the
country. They would bring their terrier dogs,
and we would hunt all along the brooks and
rivers, and round the corn and wheat fields,
putting the Rats we caught into the cage, and
after lunch, taking the Rats to a meadow and
coursing them with their dogs, which I think
it real good sport. We would put up at the
best hotels and repeat the procedure next day,
very often taking a drag or coach, and driving
ten or a dozen miles farther up the^ country.

46 EEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

I can assure my readers that the Eat-catcher
is well remunerated for the trouble he under-
takes in these cases, and moreover this is
the class of people he requires to fraternise
with. There is always a plentiful supply of
" refreshments " on these outings, and I would
therefore advise the Kat-catcher not to
indulge too freely.

The foregoing is, of course, a brief sketch of
the pleasantest part of a Eat-catcher 's life,
and to complete the picture I may as well
describe some of the other features, and the
way he has to rough it sometimes. Well,
Eat-catchers are generally called upon to
supply Eats for the Eat coursings usually
held at beerhouses, &c., on Saturday after-
noons, which one often sees advertised. Now,
if he binds himself to supply a coursing at a
certain date, the bills announcing the event
are printed and posted, all of which means
expense. Then you are bound to secure the
live Eats, whatever be the weather. In doing
this I always followed the threshing machine
to the bays and stacks. (Anyone that catches
Eats regularly can tell by looking at the bays
or stacks whether there are many Eats in or
not.) I remember many times when the men
have started threshing a bay of wheat in which
a great many Eats, and by dark they

LIFE OF THE EAT-CATCHEE. 47

have threshed only half of the bay. At such
times the Bat-catcher must not leave the
remaining half, no, not for half-an-hour
throughout the whole night, for if he does the
Eats will run out. To stop the Eats from
leaving, the Eat-catcher has to lie on the top
of the bay or go about every thirty minutes and
beat the bottom with sticks until daylight, in
order to keep the Eats in. Then, after the
machine re-starts, and the bottom of the bay
is reached, the Eat-catcher will be well paid
for his trouble, for he may get, say, 150 good
Eats for the coursing, at six shillings per dozen.
The reason I call them good coursing Eats is
because they have not been handled, and that
enables them to run well.

Now, when you go to these coursings (which
are mostly in the colliery districts) you will
find about 60 dogs entered. It is the Eat-
catcher's business to measure and handicap
the dogs, and a very unpleasant job it is. He
has also to be the referee at these coursings,
and if it is a "near thing" with two dogs
running at one rat, and you decide to award
the victory to a given one, then the owner of
the other dog will probably accuse you of
wrong-doing and favouritism. Then is the
time the Eat-catcher has to be prepared to
pull off his coat and start fighting before,

48 EEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

perhaps, 500 spectators. This has often
occurred with me. This, I can assure my
readers, is what I call "roughing it."

Of course, what I have just related occurred
a few years ago, but when the Muzzling Order
came into force, the authorities practically
stopped Eat coursing, for they wTould not let
a dog run at a Eat unless the dog was muzzled.
This was about the worst thing that the
authorities could do for Manchester and district,
for at that time I was supplying for coursings
about 100 Eats per week, and at the same
time sending 50 Eats a week into Yorkshire,
and all the Eats I supplied were caught within
15 miles of Manchester. This in my opinion,
speaks very bad of the Muzzling Order, which
I think is nothing but a farce, for at the very
time I was going ratting, dogs were muzzled
in some parts of the country but not in others.
My opinion of dog muzzling is, muzzle all or
Inuzzle none.

You will see by what I have said respecting
these coursings, &c., that the Eat-catcher has
plenty of work to supply so many live rats,
and he has also to mix with company high
and low. He also sometimes experiences
difficulties in travelling on the railway. I
have often entered an empty third-class
carriage, sent my dog under the seat, and

LIFE OF THE KAT-CATCHEE. 49

put the Eat cage there also. The carriage
would fill with passengers, and upon reaching
my destination I would take from under
the seat my cage full of live Eats, to the
amusement of some and the disgust of others.

I have also entered a railway carriage with
my cage of rats when there were passengers in,
one or two of whom would generally object to
live Eats being in the same compartment, and
on enquiring of the railway officials, I have
found that any one travelling with live Eats
is expected to put them in the guard's van.

I have also had a few good customers in my
business, one or two in particular. Gentlemen
have often sent me post-cards instructing me
to take six or twelve Eats to their residences.
I would run them out on the lawn in front of
the house with their dogs, and generally I have
received good remuneration for my trouble.
These are the customers who should be
looked well after, for they are the sportsmen
who do not consider expense, though of course
there are others who are just the opposite.

Further, Eat-catching is a business in which
one is not called upon to allow credit. It is
all a ready-money trade, and as there is not
much competition, the Eat-catcher can
command a good price for his work. He has
always one resource open to him when he has

50 BEVELATIONS OF A BAT-CATCHEB.

finished a job according to contract (catching
say 40 or 50 Rats), should there be a dispute
about the price and the people decline to pay
the bill, then he has the expedient of letting
the Eats at liberty again in the place where he
had caught them. Most people will pay the
price you send in rather than have the Eats
turned loose again.

Although I am showing how the Eat-catcher
can always have the advantage of stubborn
payers, I may as well assure my readers that
in all my experience such an occurrence as the
above has never happened with me, simply
because I always make my arrangements
beforehand, which course I always find the best
and most satisfactory all round.

Another matter I may mention. If any one
could find out a sure way of catching Eats so
that he could give a guarantee to clear large
buildings, my opinion is that he would make a
fortune in a very short time ; for I know firms
in Manchester alone that would pay almost
any amount to be rid of the Eats ; not only
because of what they consume, but more for
the damage they do to their goods.

I have referred to the Eat-catcher obtaining
good pay. The reason he commands such a
big price for his work at the present time is
because there is not much sale for live Eats.

LIFE OF THE KAT-CATCHEE. 51

The trade is not what it was some years ago
when Eat-pits were allowed. I think it was
one of the worst things they ever did for this
country when the authorities stopped the Eat
pits, for when Eat killing was allowed in pits,
it was a common thing for a Eat-catcher to
recieve an order for 100 Eats, all to be killed at
one time ; then the Eat-catcher would get the
Eats and wherever he got them from he was
ridding that district of a nuisance. But when
the authorities stopped Eat-pits and Eat-
coursing, the consequence was that the Eat-
catcher left the Eats to breed in thousands.
Eats being vermin, I don't see why they should
not be killed 50 or 100 at a time in the pit,
but the Humane Society maintain 'that it is
cruelty to dogs to put them in a pit with a lot
of Eats. I don't see where the cruelty comes
in, but from what I have seen of Eat-pits
during my time I approve of them, and I think
if they were in existence again there would be
a clearing of many thousands of Eats. Some
15 or 20 years since, I supplied 400 Eats in
one week, all to be killed in Eat-pits.

Many of my readers may not understand
what a Eat-pit is, and so I will just give an
outline as well as I can.

The Eat-pit is of circular construction, say
ten feet diameter, and about four feet six

52 EEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

inches deep, the sides being perfectly smooth
to prevent the rats climbing up and making
their escape. A certain number of Eats are
placed in the pit according to the arrangements
made with the owner of the dog. Then the
dog is put in the pit with the Eats to kill them,
which a good dog does very quickly.

The reason the pit is built circular is so that
the Eats will keep running round, for if it were
square they would all run in a corner, one on
the other, and then the dog would have no
difficulty in killing them. It is better to have
the pit fairly deep ; if not, the rats might
escape.

I think the best dog, within my recollection,
that I have seen was a bull and fox terrier,
which killed 40 good Eats in three minutes and
21 seconds. I have read and heard of dogs
doing better feats, but I am only writing of
what I have myself seen. I may say that the
records for Eat-killing in Eat-pits are held by
a dog called Jacko, which killed 200 Eats in
14 minutes and 37 seconds, and 1,000 Eats in
less than one hour and 40 minutes.

The Eat-catcher has also some very dirty
jobs to do sometimes. Often he has to go
under all sorts of cellar floors, both wet and
dry, but the majority of places are very wet
and dirty, for the Eats nearly always come out

LIFE OF THE EAT-CATCHEE. 53

of some filthy drain, and very often near a
water-closet, the abominable smell arising
from these places being sufficient to cause a
fever.

I remember being once employed at a
hospital, and I was paid at the rate of 5s. per
visit for trapping Eats. Well, I found that 5s.
per visit did not pay me (I had about 120 traps
set all over the place), so I went before the
committee and requested 8s. per night. The
committee said they thought 5s. per visit was
enough, and one or two of them said they
thought 8s. per night was above a Eat-
catcher's pay. Now, as I was not depending
on that particular job at the time, I turned
round and told them what I thought. I told
them I considered Eat-catching was a skilled
occupation, and I also offered any of them
a" five-pound note if they would only follow me
under the floors at midnight, not to speak of
taking the live Eats out of the traps in
the dark; but I can assure you that none of
these gentlemen would venture to undertake
the task.

Now, if any of these gentlemen had to do
this a few times they would not refuse to pay
the Eat-catcher the sum he asks, viz., 8s. per
night.

I remember more than once in big places

54 KEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

such as bonding warehouses, when I have-
been under the floors, my candle or lamp has
gone out through being knocked over with
grabbing at Eats, and I have not had a match
in my pocket, and have had to grope about in
the dark trying to find the trap-door where I
have got under the floors, more often than
not putting my hand in a set trap. It would
be of no use shouting for a light simply because
I have been alone. It is always better for a
Eat-catcher to have assistance for night workr
but I have done it myself very often.

Now, the expenses of travelling come very
heavy sometimes, for wherever the Eat-catcher
goes he always has to pay railway fare for
himself and his dog.

Another thing I must tell you. Often when
I have gone to inspect a small building I have
found that there were a great many Eats
in, but I have also known, after inspecting the
place, that they have all come from the one
place, out of the drain. Well, if I have
contracted to do this job for a lump sum, I
could easily clear this place and not catch an
odd Eat, simply by ferreting them all back
into the sewer in the daytime, and then
making it good; but in most of these cases
they do not like to pay your bill because
you have caught no Eats. Still, you have

LIFE OF THE KAT-CATCHEE. 55

driven them all down the drains, and after
making the drain good they cannot get back
again into the building.

Now, in a case like this I always trap them
two or three nights and catch a few, just to
give satisfaction to those engaging me.

Sometimes gentlemen will write inviting me
to meet them at a certain farm, and bring my
ferrets and a good supply of nets, alleging that
there are "hundreds of Eats in the stacks."
I just relate this to indicate how anyone not
regularly amongst Eats can easily be deceived
as to their numbers, for a couple of Eats on
the thatch of a stack, especially when they
have young ones, will probably have twelve
holes eaten in the thatch and underneath the
stack, and anyone not understanding their
habits would think there were a lot of Eats?
in it.

And it is much the same with workpeople;
if they chance to see two or three Eats at
once, they will say there are " scores" of them.
You would also be surprised to see the awful
dread that tenants have of the Eat-catcher in
private houses. When ferreting these places
they think that if a Eat-catcher has once put
his ferrets under the floor they will never see
another Eat in the place ; but depend upon it
they are very bad to catch in these places.

56 EEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

I have often had much trouble respecting
houses, warehouses, &c., to know whose duty
it would be to pay the Eat-catcher for his
work, the landlord's or the tenant's, but I
think that the landlord should pay. I have
had many engagements to catch Eats in
newly-built houses before they were tenanted.
The time the Eats get into these places is
whilst the workmen are putting the drains in
the back yards, leaving the drains open at
nights. Thence the Eats come out and get
under the floors, sometimes having to stop
there, too, simply because the next day the
joiners board up the floors and thus block the
Eats in underneath, and then the Eats can
always get into the kitchens up the back of
the fireplace. Most property owners would do
well to take note of this fact.

I must tell my readers, especially those
having large shops, &c., that it is a good plan,
if possible, to turn off the gas and water every
night and week-end, for I have seen a good
many cases where the Eats in the night-time
have eaten through a water-pipe, and the place
has been flooded by morning. It is just the
same with a gas-pipe, and my opinion is that
it is quite possible for fires to be caused by
Eats in the night-time. Eats are very fond
of nibbling and scratching at soft wood, and

LIFE OP THE RAT-CATCHER. 57

it would be an easy matter at a grocer's shop
for a Rat to bite or scratch through the
package of a gross of matches and ignite them,
and the same cause may prove disastrous with
any other inflammable goods.

Respecting the conveyance of live Rats, the
Rat-catcher should always be particular to
have good strong cages and bags, because if he
had a number of Rats in an unserviceable bag
which happened to break open at a railway
station or in the street, I think he could be
summoned for the damage the escaped Rats
might do. Still, I have not in my time had or
heard of a case of this sort.

Speaking of bags, a good many people seem
to think that if a man puts his hand into a
bagful of Rats they will bite him, but I can
assure you that a child could do the same
thing and not be bitten. Should there be only
two or three in the bag, then they will bite,
but not in the event of there being a good
number. The same rule applies to Rats stored
in a cage, where there is open daylight — if
there be 40 or 50 Rats together, it is then the
habit of the Rats for all to cling together, and
they will let you handle them anyway if only
you will have sufficient courage.

It is very good sport for gentlemen who
want a good day's outing to go to farms when

58 EEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE.

threshing is on, and also to go hunting and
ferreting round the corn and wheat fields, and
I think many sporting gentlemen who have
not seen such sport would indulge in it freely
after they had once witnessed it. I think it
is much better and healthier sport than rabbit-
shooting, especially in the summer when the
farmers are cutting their corn and wheat.

When catching Bats as a regular pursuit,
one is surprised at the queer places in which
he finds them. I recollect ferreting seven full-
sized Eats from under the floor of a built dog
kennel not above four yards square, where a
large mastiff and a terrier dog slept every
night, only a f-inch board dividing them from
the Eats, and the Eats having eaten holes
through the boards in the kennel ! I have also
found at an out-house an old bitch Eat and
nine young ones in an old tin trunk without a
lid. I have also caught Eats and taken young
ones out -of the nest from under railway sleepers
where trains have been running and shunting
operations carried on every day. And I have
even taken old and young ones in their nest
from a pile of Cheshire cheese, at a wholesale
cheese and bacon factor's !

And mentioning cheese in this connection
reminds me that once I discovered that Eats
had scratched and eaten a hole direct through

LIFE OF A RAT-CATCHEK. 59

the bottom lot of cheese in a pile which had
only been there three weeks.

A word or two about what a Eat will do with
a ferret. I have often seen a Eat run a ferret
out of the hole, and then wait witn its head
out of the hole until the ferret has come to it
again. I remember once ferreting at a
hencote, and put the ferret behind the hen
nest, whereupon the Eat attacked the ferret,
which then jumped back and died in five
minutes, the Eats having given only one bite
behind the ferret's ear ! Of course this is a
very rare occurrence. True, I have had many
ferrets killed by Eats in my time, but it has
always occurred through the poisonous bite
first swelling and then " taking bad ways,'*
the ferret dying in probably a week or so.

You must understand that if you put a Eat
and a ferret together in a tub the ferret would
kill the Eat in nine cases out of ten, the nature
of the Eat being to get away from the ferret if
possible ; but if it cannot it will fight, and I
think a Eat, for its size, is of a very vicious
nature, for I have often seen when trying a
puppy at killing a Eat in a pit, that a game Eat
will run the puppy all round the pit. The
best way to try a pup to kill a Eat is to draw
the teeth of the first Eat it secures for some-
times if a pup gets a severe bite from a Eat

60 EEVELATIONS OF A KAT-CATCHEK.

it will never look at another. It is a very bad
plan to let a pup play with a Eat too much,
for this causes the pup never to put a hard
mouth on the Rat. When this latter occurs
it is the best plan not to allow the same pup
to see another Bat until it is a month or two
older. If you will take care and trouble with
a pup you can bring it up to your own liking,
and to do anything you want. I have worked
seven years with a curly-coated retriever bitch,
and when ferreting a brook she would stand in
the water and catch the Rats that escaped
from the nets into the brook and bring them
to me alive in her mouth. I have sold
hundreds of Rats she has caught in this
manner, and to show you how the dogs can
be brought up with the ferrets I need only
mention that this bitch would lie down and let
two ferrets kill a Rat on the curly coat of
her back.

Farmers know too well of the many restless
nights the cows and horses experience through
Rats. I have seen when trapping all night at
a farm the Rats running over the cows and
horses whilst sleeping : and when horses have
been working in the field all day they want
better rest in the night. I have known when
farmers would not let the Rat-catcher ferret
their buildings gratis, simply because they have

LIFE OF THE KAT-CATCHER. 61

a few hens sitting. They don't consider that
when the hens have hatched the eggs the
Eats will take the chickens. Whenever a
farmer has refused to let me ferret at his farm
I have passed that farm ever afterwards. To
show you the different dispositions of farmers.
I have met, I may mention that when once
ferreting at a farm, we caught nine rats and
lost the ferret, and two days afterwards the
ferret was found on the farm, and I sent for it,
but the farmer demanded two shillings of me
for the ferret's keep. This same man I may
add farmed about two hundred acres.

Of course, there are other farmers just the
opposite, who will not only pay you for your
trouble, but take great interest in helping you
to catch the Eats. I relate these facts and
incidents to show you the contrast in the
disposition of different people one meets in
this business.

I don't think the Eat-catcher's life is one of
the worst if he looks well after his business,
for he has a few advantages over other
occupations. In the first place, he is his own
master, and need only doff his coat when he
chooses, there being for him no such summons
to work as a factory bell. And if he fancies a
day's outing in the country he can always
take his dog and ferrets with him, and make a

62 EEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEK.

day's pleasure into a remunerative business, by
reason of the income from the Eats, and I find
from experience that the best friends he has
are his dog and ferrets, if he will look well after
them and treat them kindly, for I think that a
Eat-catcher in the country without a good
dog might walk over scores of Eats and never
know they were there, so you will see that
his dog is chiefly what he has to trust to.

And now, in conclusion, let me express the
hope that this book will prove instructive,
entertaining, and profitable to my readers,
inasmuch as I have endeavoured to make it
so to the best of my ability and within the
somewhat limited scope and sphere of a Eat-
catcher 's calling. Of course, I might have
made the narrative portion of the book more
startling and exciting, had I drawn upon my
imagination, but I have thought it best to
adhere to cold fact and actual experience.

HINTS ON BABBIT SHOOTING.

Always have your gun made at your gun-
maker's to your own liking.

Always be prepared for the worst of weather,
and be sure to have good strong boots.

Never have your gun on full cock while
walking about, especially whilst going through
a fence.

Never stand too close to a burrow, and don't
be too eager to shoot.

Always have your gun pointed upwards to
the clouds or down to the ground.

Never shoot at a rabbit as it sits on the top
of the hole, or you might shoot the ferret.

Always stand so that all the shooters can
see one another.

Never remove from where the gamekeeper
places you.

Never have your gun barrels up while it is
raining.

When you go out in the country always
provide yourself with refreshments before
starting.

If you miss an easy shot don't blame the
gun.

Don't be too excited, and get well on the
rabbits before you pull.

If the keeper's dog is retrieving rabbits
never attempt to take one from it.

(AUTHOE'S NOTES.)

IKE MATTHEWS is prepared to go out Eatting
with parties of gentlemen or their gamekeepers
on their private estates during the summer,
supplying dog, ferrets, and nets, at moderate
charges. Arrangements may be made by post.

IKE MATTHEWS is also willing to go out
rabbit-shooting with gentlemen during the
season, and will supply and work ferrets at
reasonable charges. He is also prepared to
break dogs and puppies to ferreting and Batting
on reasonable terms.

Any number of live Eats and rabbits
supplied at a few days' notice.

All orders promptly attend to.

Undeniable Eeferences.
Yours truly,

IKE MATTHEWS.

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