VERMILION

VERMILION, a bright and beautiful red colour composed of quicksilver and sulphur, in great esteem among the ancients, under the name of minium.

VERMIN is a general term employed to denote any noxious animal, and is applied to such creatures as are obnoxious to man, or the animals under his charge.

In this extended sense, then, the gamekeeper finds vermin in most of our native quadrupeds, except those which it is his pleasure or business to preserve; as also in such birds as may in any way molest his "preserves." For these he usually employs the corrupted, but yet with him distinctive term, of "varment," whilst the insect pests which annoy him get the title of vermin.

We propose in this article to briefly review the kinds of creatures to which the term is applied, with notices of the nature of their injuries and their remedies; and with this view we shall direct the reader's attention, 1stly, to the quadrupeds; 2dly, the birds; and, 3dly, the insects, which would appear to be his more particular enemies.

The following list will be found to include all the quadrupeds to which the name can apply, with the natural Orders to which they belong.

Vermin. Bats.—If we look at the end of the squire's barn we shall usually see some of the vespertilio there nailed up with outstretched wings: they have, however, no stronger evidence against them of felonious intent than being found in the so-called "keeper's larder," where they have attained their ignominious position through ignorance, as they are perfectly harmless, and still the superstitious fears with regard to them are among the very curiosities of superstition.

Moles.—are common in all parts of England especially in the mid-land counties, and in the south of Scotland, but are absent in Ireland. The mole is seldom or never seen above the surface of the ground, except when forced out of its subterraneous abode by excessive drought and heat, by inundations, or by very hard frost. In size it is a little larger than the dormouse, and smaller than the common rat, measuring from five to six inches in length, exclusive of the tail. The male is considerably larger than the female. The body is completely covered with very fine glossy black hair or fur, softer and finer than silk, or the fur of the beaver, inclining to a brownish hue on the abdomen.¹ Its nose is long, and resembles that of the hog; its eyes are very quick and perceptible when the animal is alive. Instead of external ears, it has openings protected by the fur, which are admirably fitted for their purpose, as the hearing of few animals is more acute. Its neck is very short, and its body is thick, round, and muscular, terminated by a tail about an inch long. The fore-legs have more the appearance of hands growing out of the body, turned outwards and backwards, like the hands of a man when swimming. Those legs are very strong, and are each furnished with five claws. The hind legs are longer and weaker than the fore ones, being only used in progressive motions; whereas the others are constantly employed in digging and boring the ground, or in scraping and throwing back the earth when loosened; for, while the mole is excavating, it is always obliged to draw the loosened earth backwards, and to lift or shove it above the surface of the ground in the same way. Its teeth are beautifully white, and consist of forty-four in all, viz., six upper and eight under incisors, two upper and two under canines, and seven molars on each side above, and six on each side below. Its food consists almost entirely of earth-worms and a few insects.

The male and female go together about the end of March or beginning of April, and most of them produce their young in the beginning of June, a few so early as in the last week in May.² The female brings forth her young only once a year, the number varying from one to nine at a birth, and five or six being the average number. She carries her young about nine weeks, that is, from the last week in March or the first in April, till the last week in May or beginning of June. When the season arrives for the male and female going together, if their domiciles are not connected by old workings, the solitary mole will leave his place of abode in the night, and travel a considerable distance above ground to meet with a companion.³

The season for trapping moles in Scotland commences on the 20th of August, and ends on the 31st of May in each year, or occasionally a week or two later if the winter be a severe one.

About forty years ago, when steps were taken to clear the moles from the estates of his grace, Henry, duke of Buccleuch in Scotland, a man was appointed to each five thousand or six thousand acres of land, for two or three of the first years of a twenty years' lease; and so much success attended the plan, that two men were sufficient to keep fifty thousand Scottish acres of land pretty clear of moles during the remainder of the lease. And had it not been that there were several intervening patches of land, where the moles were not trapped at all, and where their propagation was kept up, one man would probably have sufficed for the purpose.

The most common way of taking moles, is by traps set in their walks or runs; and the best for this purpose are the wooden ones

made by the bobbin-turners in the neighbourhood of Kendal and elsewhere, and sold at about twopence each. Sixty of these traps, with as much mole-twine as may be bought for eighteenpence, a few sticks, a small bodkin, and a mole-spade, equip the mole-catcher, and will serve him for a year without any additional outlay. With these materials, in good ground, where the moles have not before been disturbed, he will capture three hundred dozens the first season. Before commencing operations, the traps should be steeped in water, and covered in the ground for a day or two, to remove any peculiar smell which may belong to them.

In the subterraneous runs of the mole, as among the streets of towns and villages, there are certain walks more frequented than others, and hence entitled to the name of thoroughfares.

The dots in the above diagram represent the molehills, and the lines the walks or streets communicating between them, which serve the double purpose of a dwelling and a trap for worms, upon which the mole feeds. It is probable that all these streets, or at all events a large proportion of them, are traversed every twenty-four hours, more especially when food is scarce. It is also obvious that certain parts of these walks must be more frequently passed than others.

A may be supposed to be a hedge near which the mole will spend much of its time in wet, cold, or stormy weather; B and D are two ridges adjoining to the hedge, where it is much engaged in fine weather; and C the furrow between those ridges. Let fig. 1 represent the walk conducting from the hedge to the first ridge, and fig. 2 a continuation of the same walk between the first and second ridges. Figs. 3 and 4 are mainwalks on the ridges. Nos. 1 and 2 are the walks that will be most used, and therefore are the places where the mole-catcher would place his traps. Nos. 3 and 4 are the next best, in consequence of there being only a single road or passage in each place, and not, as to the right and left of them, a variety of byways. In many cases the inexperienced may be unable to determine which is a main run, in consequence of the ground being apparently all worked up together. In such a case he should endeavour to find a walk in a hedge-bottom, or in crossing the ditch to the hedge, or where the mole goes to water, or in the crossing of a gapstead or gateway, or in a footpath, or furrow, or sheepwalk, or along the side of a drain. In such places as these, the ground is generally pretty solid, and it may be assumed as a general rule, that the mole never likes to make a great number of walks where the ground is hard, or where it is frequently trodden on. When the mole-catcher has surveyed the ground, and made up his mind where to place his trap, as at Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 he may strike his spade into the ground in a right line between the hillocks, and if he finds the ground hollow, he has discovered the walk, and he may there make a hole to set his trap in. Care must be taken not to make this hole too large, and it ought to be about a quarter of an inch lower than the bottom of the walk, so that the mole may have a gentle descent into it. The earth ought also to be well filled in upon all sides, so as to exclude the light, and at the same time not to interrupt the mole in its passage; for upon discovering any interruption, it will be apt to make a new road by the side of it, and after having its suspicion excited, it will be very difficult to take it afterwards.⁴